Spring and Gardening
Spring is my favorite season. This winter has been particularly dreary,wet and grey. So with each hint of spring I cheer up a bit—the arrival of the robins and red wing blackbirds, the green grass and daffodils. Yesterday we finally had some sunshine and warmer temps. I was torn between painting and getting outside to work in the garden. I’ve been working on a series of Brown County landscapes, plus some more challenging still lifes—with several shows coming up I really need to keep my nose to the grindstone so to speak.
But it was actually sunny outside, not a cloud in sight and it was in the 50’s. I've been reading “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver and my head was filled with visions of fresh broccoli, peas, onions and tomatoes. So the lure of open spaces won out and I ditched the easel for the garden. I worked on clearing the flower beds and hauled off a few wheelbarrow-fulls of compost material. I dug up two of the raised beds and had developed a back ache and a blister by the time I moved on to the third raised bed. And that was when I dug up the nest of baby bunnies.
I felt horrified! It was like a Twilight Zone episode—one minute every thing’s wonderful, the next it’s spun out of control with little bodies every where! They were tiny—their eyes weren’t open and their ears were small. None of them appeared to actually be injured so I carefully put them back in the small depression where their nest had been and covered them with the nesting material. Apologizing to them, to their mom, to God and Mother Nature, I gave up on gardening for the day and headed back to the house—taking care to shut the gate behind me to keep out curious chickens and ducks.
Today it’s back to being grey and chilly. It’s as if Mother Nature said “I give you a beautiful day and what do you do? Sheesh!” So today the easel is back out. The garden can wait a bit. But this weekend I think I will go to a garden show—surely there’s no harm in that?