SPRING - IT'S HERE !....... I CAN FEEL IT!

Although there's a blanket of  snow on the ground this morning, I can see signs of spring around the farm.  With it comes my heightened urge to get outside and chart the many things I'd like to accomplish during this growing season - a long list that grows exponentially each time I walk out the door, for sure.

At this very moment, I'm staring at a regally purple anemone I rescued from Lowe's at a rock bottom price, new blossom spikes on my iridescent pink African violet, a large bloom shoot emerging from my late-planted amaryllis, and the first signs of seeds I planted last week in my makeshift mini-greenhouses made from rotisserie chicken containers.  My coleus cuttings from last year's plants are in the dirt and thriving, and I've got some beautiful geranium cuttings started.  The kitchen now serves as a transplanting station, confusing the corgis since they associate that space with food rather than plants.  The cold frame's heating up for the greens and other flats I'll start in it later on this morning. With daffodils ready to open, buds throwing out pollen in bushels, peepers' choruses in the evening, and the return of warm season bird friends, I'm ready to celebrate.  It's been a wonderfully beautiful, long, cold winter - long enough for the enthusiasm of spring to kick me into outdoor mode in the big way.

My offering at the vernal equinox last week was one of gratitude for the many things I've planted along the way that are bountiful in life:  my children and I are happy and well; my mom's coming for Eliza's graduation in a couple of weeks, and I've been able to maintain the farm in the best way I can.  I have friends; I live with two goofy corgis who keep my head in the mindset of play, and I'm able to work on some creative pursuits with my photos and paper.  I'm frequently reminded that I have nothing about which I can complain or whine.  As I turn the compost and refresh my garden beds with rich soil I've overseen, my heart soars with the simplicity of joy and revitalization that spring brings. The spring sun shines in my heart!