March Nature Column as published in the Woburn Advocate
Well, as I write this the Pond is still frozen solid, there are still piles of snow everywhere, and the walk I took this afternoon was frigid! Temps in the high twenties with a stiff wind! Brrrrrr! By the time you are reading this we should have had a few warm days (if you can believe the weathermen) to open up the Pond a bit and help clear the streets of the still very large piles that were plowed up over and over again till they reached epic heights! But today, (Sunday) there was nothing but snow and ice with no signs of spring but the chirping of birds! The weather and the white stuff doesn’t stop the birds from starting their mating rituals! They know it’s spring! And the calendar says it is Spring, but you certainly couldn’t prove it by me!
So, what to write about, that is the question! Everything will be late this season. The snow is too hard and crusty now for the earliest blooms to even poke through. I usually plant peas on the 19th of April (the real Patriot’s Day) in order to have them for the 4th of July! Don’t think that is going to happen this year! After a lot of thought, I decided to go through my archives and find photos from other years taken in the first days of spring and do a comparison with this year. I found some interesting shots that I think you will also find enlightening! This is not the only year we have had snow and ice on the first day of spring. In 2010 we had warm weather early and the trees had started to bud and then we got torrential rains that caused major flooding at the Pond. Some years we have had snow but with totally open water. Last year the ground was bare and dry on the first weekend of spring. Every year is different. That’s the wonderful thing about nature. It’s never the same twice. I had someone ask me many years ago why I kept taking photos of the Pond. They thought I must have taken a photo of everything there was to take a picture of and I should probably not bother with anymore. One sunset was the same as another, wasn’t it? And the same flowers bloom every year, don’t they? If they only knew how wrong they were! I will take photos as long as I can see; as long as I can lift a camera. And everyone is different!
Many things may be delayed because of the heavy snow cover this year, but one thing the snow doesn’t affect is Maple Sugaring. Maple Sugaring starts in late February in New England and by March it is in full swing. Wouldn’t you love to actually see how maple syrup is made? Here is a link that will give you dozens of places to go right here in Massachusetts to see, smell and taste this distinctly New England treat: http://www.massmaple.org/directory.php. It’s always a good idea to call ahead before going.
Next month the full moon is on the 4th. There are many names to the April full moon. It is the first of full moon of Spring and all the different cultures reflected this in the name they gave to it: Cherokee-Flower Moon; Northeastern Native American tribes-Pink Moon; English Medieval-Seed Moon; Celtic-Growing Moon; Colonial America-Planter’s Moon; ecclesiastical calendar Paschal Moon because it is used to determine the date for Easter.
Well, as I write this the Pond is still frozen solid, there are still piles of snow everywhere, and the walk I took this afternoon was frigid! Temps in the high twenties with a stiff wind! Brrrrrr! By the time you are reading this we should have had a few warm days (if you can believe the weathermen) to open up the Pond a bit and help clear the streets of the still very large piles that were plowed up over and over again till they reached epic heights! But today, (Sunday) there was nothing but snow and ice with no signs of spring but the chirping of birds! The weather and the white stuff doesn’t stop the birds from starting their mating rituals! They know it’s spring! And the calendar says it is Spring, but you certainly couldn’t prove it by me!
So, what to write about, that is the question! Everything will be late this season. The snow is too hard and crusty now for the earliest blooms to even poke through. I usually plant peas on the 19th of April (the real Patriot’s Day) in order to have them for the 4th of July! Don’t think that is going to happen this year! After a lot of thought, I decided to go through my archives and find photos from other years taken in the first days of spring and do a comparison with this year. I found some interesting shots that I think you will also find enlightening! This is not the only year we have had snow and ice on the first day of spring. In 2010 we had warm weather early and the trees had started to bud and then we got torrential rains that caused major flooding at the Pond. Some years we have had snow but with totally open water. Last year the ground was bare and dry on the first weekend of spring. Every year is different. That’s the wonderful thing about nature. It’s never the same twice. I had someone ask me many years ago why I kept taking photos of the Pond. They thought I must have taken a photo of everything there was to take a picture of and I should probably not bother with anymore. One sunset was the same as another, wasn’t it? And the same flowers bloom every year, don’t they? If they only knew how wrong they were! I will take photos as long as I can see; as long as I can lift a camera. And everyone is different!
Many things may be delayed because of the heavy snow cover this year, but one thing the snow doesn’t affect is Maple Sugaring. Maple Sugaring starts in late February in New England and by March it is in full swing. Wouldn’t you love to actually see how maple syrup is made? Here is a link that will give you dozens of places to go right here in Massachusetts to see, smell and taste this distinctly New England treat: http://www.massmaple.org/directory.php. It’s always a good idea to call ahead before going.
Next month the full moon is on the 4th. There are many names to the April full moon. It is the first of full moon of Spring and all the different cultures reflected this in the name they gave to it: Cherokee-Flower Moon; Northeastern Native American tribes-Pink Moon; English Medieval-Seed Moon; Celtic-Growing Moon; Colonial America-Planter’s Moon; ecclesiastical calendar Paschal Moon because it is used to determine the date for Easter.