Spring is such an exciting time of year! We spend all winter waiting and waiting, dreaming up the things we just can’t wait to get started on. Then, finally, we’ll hear the peep toads start singing in our pond and watch the snow start receding into the darker, denser parts of the forest, and we know that winter is finally ending!
All of a sudden that winter sleepiness drops away and we feel energized and ready to get moving! That means we have been very busy lately. We’ve planted our vegetable seeds, as well as some annuals and perennials – and took Buster and Bella down to the swimming hole to look for some river stones and see how the strong spring runoff has altered the river bend.
We’re not the only ones waking up – the forest is alive again with all the animals that have been burrowed away. While we’ve seen the coyotes and fox all winter long, we’re seeing the deer out and about more and more, as well as some moose tracks and the porcupine. A ruffed grouse let us know she wasn’t happy we stumbled upon her nesting site when we were walking down to the swimming hole. The brave golden finches that decided to overwinter with us instead of migrating are turning their vibrant yellow, the robins are singing away and the red-breasted nuthatches are peet-peet-peeting in the trees. We still haven’t seen the bears yet, but they’re starting to wake up too, and hopefully keeping away from our beehives!
We have set up some wildlife cameras to snap some pictures of all the animals, and hope to be sharing all of those with you soon. In the meantime here is a short video of a bear and her cubs coming up the driveway last fall.