Nature has put on
quite a show this spring. She seems to be exuberantly flaunting her jewels. With
extravagant displays of blossoms from apples, pears, cherries, lilacs, acacias,
chives, caraganas, honeysuckles in our neck of the woods, all that we have been
missing are the bees to pollinate them. We’ve never seen the locust trees
blooming like this, suffusing the air with their glorious sweet scent. Some
bumblebees have been doing the business, but wild bees have been very scarce.
Can’t wait to see if they are around for buckwheat flowers when they come in a
few weeks. They are traditionally all over them. We wait to hear from local
beekeepers how their honeybees survived the winter.
Spring has been long
and gentle, with intermittent rain and heat. The garden and fields seem to have
responded to the moderation favourably. With the recent heavy two-inch rainfall,
we look forward to some prolonged heat for crops to put on a growth spurt. At
our farm, garlic, greens, beets, carrots are ready to roll in the fields, as
are basils, tomatoes, hot peppers in the greenhouses.
