Encountering Earth

There are many "rites" of summer! One of these is picking strawberries and enjoying all the tasty ways to enjoy them - shortcake, over ice cream, just cut and sugared, and right out of the field! I must say that this excitement about picking anything doesn't catch me right away. As an ol' farmer, any kind of picking is never about a few quarts for home use, but picking and packing for the market. So I need to reframe and get in the upbeat, I only need to fill this four-quart container mood! Off we went to a local orchard. I won't mention the name because we had to pay a $5 cover charge and $6.73 a quart, which seemed a bit much since we couldn't use our own quarts but had to pick in theirs. No way was the container 4 quarts! We gave the benefit of the doubt to the farmer, because it's hard making a go of it!  So then there's berry picking in times of Covid-19: don your mask and gloves and no eating in the field. I was hot and bothered, especially by ...

Wow, time flies! I can't believe I haven't written since the end of May! But here I am in summer, not my favorite season for sure. The Spring wildflowers are bloomed and setting seeds. The summer flowers - hawkweed, phlox, honest, joe-pye weed, asters, and milkweed are not out yet. The birds are a challenge to find in trees that are full-leafed. So where to pay attention? The other day I was lying in the hammock on our back porch. The sky was deep blue. I was watching the wind rustle the leaves. I felt like I was in a treehouse! The crows and starlings were making a racket!  Squirrels ran up and down our neighbor's maple and across the garage roof. I reflected on my favorite summer past time - sitting (or lying) in the shade and enjoying the being of summer. No need to do anything unless it's reading a good book and nibbling on snacks. I love to take in the sights and sounds, enjoy a breeze, feel the sunshine on my skin. Be. Yes, summer does have some lovely moments! ...

I have been visiting my family this week and I am enjoying all the sights and sounds of the Jersey Pine Barrens. Lady Slippers, Pine Barrens False Heather (although I am loath to call any flower false!), sheep laurel, mountain laurel, huckleberries, lance leaf violet just to name a few of the amazing diversity of the Pine not- barrens! What has really thrilled me is the nightly call of the Eastern whip-poor-will. You can set your watch by them - every night at about nine pm. I have never seen one. They are nocturnal and so well camouflaged that they are extremely hard to spot. But they make themselves heard! The nightly concert reminds me of my childhood - lying in bed and being lulled to sleep by their song. Now the chorus is a lot smaller. I wonder where they have gone. Habitat has shrunk; there are more feral cats; there are a lot more chemicals to poison the bugs they eat. Because of these threats, the bird is listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List. This saddens me, but I ...

This Spring I have been reflecting a lot on dandelions. Their bright yellow faces have cheered me. Their hardiness and resilience have encouraged me. They are everywhere and so taken for granted!   They are mowed down, poisoned with weed killer, dugout, and defamed. But children love them and relish picking fistfuls. The abundance fills a child's heart and imagination. My favorite way to enjoy dandelions is to eat them! First of all, there is the wonderful memory of "picking" them with my Grandmom Jule. She would never get them around the house, even though there were tons because there were too many dogs in the neighborhood. This wasn't an exaggeration because at one time the dogs outnumbered the people in our area. So we would go to the corner of the farm, back near the woods in the six acres of asparagus my dad raised and we would pick them. Now, this had to be done in a certain way! One took a knife and with surgical precision, inserted it into the ground nea...

The wildflowers are up and working through the leaf litter and duff to delight the woods. This weekend I went to the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville. The ravine - a lovely, quiet spot on the property was flush with flowers - trout lilies, red trillium, violets in purple and yellow, white and lavender hepatica, and marsh marigolds- bursting more yellow than the sun. These early flowers are so delicate; they hardly look able to grow in the cooler early Spring and to vault through the remains of leaves and branches. They are fragile but so hardy. These colors are vibrant and announce that winter is over and Spring has indeed arrived. I often wonder why nature spends so much energy on these flowers. I understand the flowers of trees - they yield leaves, the flowers of vegetables produce all kinds of edibles. But these wildflowers don't bear fruit, of course, they produce seeds. But why? Beauty. Beauty is nature's way of being actually. Beauty entices and attract...

My favorite spot, besides our park, is definitely Vischer Ferry Preserve. I went there on Saturday morning- I thought it was early- 9:30 but a lot of folks were there and the parking lot was full. I love seeing the families out walking. Really, the kids lead the parents in noticing things and being enthralled with rocks on the path and birds flying by. I met this little guy named David. He is about two with a huge smile and absolute enthusiasm for "nature". His parents said that he woke up all excited to go into nature that day. David looked all around and noticed my binoculars. His parents decided he should have a pair so he could see the birds better. They moved on, assuring David that next time we might be able to "bump fists". They were eager to see the painted turtles that I told them about. I think one of the best gifts parents and relatives and friends can give a child is an outlet for this biophilia that is naturally theirs. They need time and space and a m...

Spring is tentative about coming because the nights have been cold. We had snow last Friday and Saturday! But Spring will only be held back for so long. This week the flowers of the trees are coming out - red for the maples, yellow-green for the poplars, tan for the alder catkins. The skunk cabbage has unfurled from its sheath of pale green splashed with maroon to large heart-shaped leaves that fill the swampy places. Coltsfoot is up smiling yellow and shyly from the side of the trail. Bloodroot's fragile white petals are fearless coming through the dead leaves. Early wildflowers are trying to send up tiny tender leaves - trout lilies, starflower - just promising to burst forth in a week or so. The blessing of this time is time to amble and look - really look at the small things like new shoots. What are you seeing as you take time this Spring? (image credit: Wikipedia)