45. Two Years (and more things)!

Let’s see, here: we’ve been at the farm for two whole years, which means we’re beginning our third spring, and despite my physical set-backs (eye surgery, being sick, presently with something that will not be cured with rest and water and binge-watching The Great), things are bursting with life.

The orchard is beginning to bloom, spring greens are abundant and sweet, I have a hen hatching out eleven eggs (and I’m sure a hen or two will come wandering in from some secreted away place with a trail of adorable puffs in the coming weeks), and Juno the Roman Tufted goose is setting on seven eggs of her own. I’ve sown radishes, beets, turnips, carrots, peas, mesclun, spinach, broccoli, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, kale, and cabbage. Hopefully, with the early planting, I can avoid the cabbage worms that usually ravage brassicas.

I am swimming in plant starts to sell at market in the next two months: tomatoes of many varieties, squash, zucchini, cabbage, kale, eggplant, and Brussel sprouts. Huzzah! The bees are waking up, taking test flights as the sun warms the Earth, dipping with delight into butter-yellow dandelions.

While T.S. Elliot said that “April is the cruelest month, breeding/ Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/ Memory and desire, stirring/ Dull roots with spring rain…” I find it to be quite hopeful, as long as I don’t expect too much of the weather.