Preparing for Spring

Spring has spring, or at least that's what it feels like this weekend. The temperatures climbed into the 60s this week, and most of the snow surrounding the house has melted. While we're excited for spring to arrive - as long as we still have the option to drive to Mt Hood for some snowboarding! - the snow is no longer around to cover up the multitude of tasks spring has waiting for us.

The first glaring task: raking leaves. We kinda got a bit lazy last fall, and so we never did rake the leaves from any of the areas around the house. Now that the snow has melted, this was the perfect opportunity to clean up before the grass is stunted. We only managed to get about a third finished in the three or so hours before we exhausted ourselves, but it's a good start. The leaves we did clean up went straight into the garden; some will be matted down along the paths between the beds, and others will be turned in a few weeks before planting.

All I can say is: thank goodness most of our trees are evergreens.

It's nice to be able to spend time outside after winter, to smell the scents of the new season and enjoy the cool breezes and warm sun. It's a transition period, with plenty of signs of the seasons past and what is to come.

To the left, the lone hazelnut tree in our orchard holds on to its catkins produced in the fall; it doesn't have a mate, so unfortunately doesn't produce any nuts.

And on the right, the first signs of the bulbs we planted begin to poke through soil and open their petals. We originally though this was a cluster of muscari (grape hyacinth), but now that it has opened more it looks like something else.

- Mike (& Corinne)