Winter succumbs her subtle beauty to the Spring,
with protest
in the form of snowflakes.
Today, a week from May,
they lazily wandered through the greening landscape,
announcing their soft, pure, powerful presence of
coziness and letting go
to the vibrating and insane pace of sap flow, insect emergence,
and frantic nest building.
We have been busy little seeders in the protected shell of the greenhouse.
And busy pruning blueberry bushes before the buds burst.
I have been so busy that I nearly forgot myself.
As things move from inside to outside in this transition,
I crawled out like an anxious awkward bug, unaware of all its appendages,
yet keeping its eyes on the prize and using age-old instinct
to navigate the challenges ahead.
I broke my toe on the stairs. Twice, in the same darn place.
The body's wisdom
of slowing-down,
even with sacrifice,
for the greater balance of things.
My fruit trees arrived in the mail the same day I made an offer on a piece of land.
I decided to start buying tractors and stuff again...
Spring, FINALLY.
Things that seemed dead asleep for ages and ages come crawling up in shades of vibrant green.
Miracles. An eight-petaled bloom where snowflakes piled up three feet thick.
Then it happens, one evening, always when I'm not expecting it.
The urge to till the soil again.
To ask the gentle ground if she will bear us food
another year.
The silent sacrifice of earthworms to the plow,
the rich smell of warming soil,
what the steel and the diesel allow us...
Springtime creates strong instincts in animals, including human farmers.
To jump on the tractor and claim a piece of the land, in determined frenzy.
And now all those unromantic errands that go with farming,
like picking up new tractor tires from Waterloo,
clog up the never-ending TO-DO list.
While the dandelion's spring to-do list includes:
- LEAF
- BUD
- STEM
- FLOWER
- SEED
Among other tasks, such as vital mineral acquisition and transport up from the deep.
And, as human species with capable large brains,
our To-Do list, this spring and beyond,
Maybe could include action on some long-term goals:
Like saving our toes, and our balance.
Our barns, our farms, and our communities.
Our one precious planet.
James Hansen, top Climate Scientist, spoke a few days ago in Rochester, NY,
and suggested his hope
for our future
lies in projects like this.
Let's direct our vital energy this spring to what is truly important to us.
The time to wander like lazy snowflakes is over.
Bloom where you are planted,
bloom strong,
in the face of the frozen past and the uncertain future.
