New songs, new shoots, new life....

 April 21, 2025

Spring is really burgeoning now. Almost every day a new bird migrant arrives, and today we started the 'goose wars'... Pairs of Canada Geese are insistent that they want to take over our greening grass and full pond. We have chased them off, protesting loudly, several times today. 

Deer migrating back to their summer stomping grounds are having a stop-over, and grazing every evening on the greening grass in the yard. One evening at dusk we counted nine deer grazing around the barn like cattle... and sitting up above them all, on the top of the Tree Swallow's nest box pole, was our resident Barred Owl. There are two deer who show up even at mid day, and we think they may be the same pests who kept sampling my gardens last summer. Plans are in the works for an electric fencing project around the gardens.

As far as birds migrants go, Golden-crowned Kinglets are here, as are Field Sparrows, and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are tapping insistently in every direction. In the bush, the Winter Wren is serenading, it's song so long, one thinks it might have to gasp for breath at the end! Northern Flickers showed up yesterday, and just a few days ago the Tree Swallows swooped in suddenly, mid-morning. Their happy chittering was so effervescent that they made me laugh as I watched them fly loops around the clearing before checking out the nest box. Yesterday afternoon, a sunny and warm day, I heard the clacking of Wood Frogs in the vernal pools for the first time, and later in the evening, the first lone Spring Peeper was making the odd, questioning call. 

Today is much cooler, the temperature struggling to reach 7C (45F), then dropping back to 4C (39F) with a chilly wind and a few showers of cold rain, so don't expect to hear frogs again until it gets warmer.

This weekend I dug a few of my over-wintered parsnips, a bit gnarly to clean, but they cooked up so sweet and delicious.

Garden plans are on-going, my warm weather seedlings are green and healthy under lights, and cell packs of brassicas are sunk into the  earth out in the cold frame, hardening up as they grow, the lid lowered at night. The in-ground hot frame with the lid just slightly shimmed open, is growing seedling lettuce, spinach, two different seed onions and leeks. The leeks will be a new adventure for me this year, as I've never grown them before. The leeks and onions are in starter packs, and will be transplanted to the garden beds once they are big enough. Out in one raised bed, overwintered spinach has resurrected and is putting out leaves that are almost big enough to harvest. The garlic has suddenly shot up an inch or more, pushing through the leaf mulch.

This parade went by one of the trail cameras over the past week,

and this old tree stump, left from thinning in a nearby pine plantation, caught my eye as I was wandering through.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying your Easter weekend.