IYAR MORE THEN HUMAN WORLD

Late Spring

Iyar marks the beginning of late spring. The trees have leafed out; what were barely buds on my hickory trees are now full leaves. The cool season grasses are in the midst of their wild rush to reproduce.  The first small weeds in the lawn who make their living by being first have faded, and there’s just a hint of the violets that dominated the landscape a few short weeks ago. The birds are singing along and I get there are nests with eggs in them, if I knew enough to find them. 

I remain struck by both how lousy I am at knowing what is happening around me, and how much more attuned to the more than human world I am compared to my neighbors or the rest of the family. When I raised cows, I was finely attuned to what was growing, to how I was managing for the clover to come on and not be overwhelmed by the fescue in my pastures, to how much the cows were eating.  When I milked cows, I could smell what they were eating in the milk, particularly onion grass in early spring. Always I would be asking myself how much were they eating, how many more days did they have in that particular field, where I would move them next, who was milking off their bodies and getting skinny after calving, and who was enjoying the bloom of the grass.  It’s a good time of the year to be a cow with as much nutritious feed as you can possibly eat, calves playing alongside their moms, comfortable days and nights.

The mad rush of leaves on trees and cool season grasses racing to sexual maturity, cows contentedly full on lush pastures; it is a rich time of the year. 

The garden is mostly planted until the succession vegetables need to be planted.  In another week I’ll plant some more radishes as I harvest this round, and in three weeks to a  month I’ll plant some more green beans; the ones I planted 10 days ago are just starting to come up. I’m no gardener, but I plant and harvest because it is a way to say thank you for the riches of the good earth with which we have been graced.  I am grateful.   

What do you need to plant, like tomatoes and squash?

What has started growing that will soon be ready to harvest, like lettuce, radishes, peas.

What is bursting forth in you like the leaves on the hickories?

Shagbark Hickory