Tuesday, March 9, 2010

I Wanna be a Mudbird

We've all heard of 'snowbirds' . . . those people who live in northern climates and go south in the winter to avoid the snow. That doesn't appeal to me in the least, because I love snow and the winter time. But, if I could, I'd readily become a 'mudbird' and go to an area of the country that was dry and free of mud in the spring time.

I don't like mud. I don't like the drab coloration of our scenery in the spring. (If the truth were to be told, we don't actually have much of a spring season up here in northeastern Minnesota. We tend to go from late winter into summer. Even our 'spring' flowers don't bloom until June.)

Chives are always the first outdoor plant to show any signs of greening up. I couldn't help myself today. I went out and raked the dead foliage away from my chive plants and look what I found. New growth!

This is my pumpkin patch. It is super-saturated with water. Why wouldn't it be? The snow just melted off of it yesterday.

Here are our eight rows of strawberry plants. Still covered with the winter mulch blanket but nearly free of snow now.

Most of the raised garden beds have recently been exposed to the sunlight. They will dry out very quickly and if I can keep them sufficiently warmed with cold frames on top, I can plant some early seeds that don't mind cool weather. Like salad greens (oh, that sounds so good!), spinach, chard, radishes, etc. Not that I mean I can do that right away. I'll have to restrain myself for a least another month.

Enough of the pond ice has melted that this pair of Shetland geese has been taking a bath every day now. It must feel wonderful after a bath-less winter. You can see the two wild Mallard ducks in the background. They are a pair that are the very first to arrive each year.

Doesn't Mrs. Shetland look like she's enjoying her spa treatment to the utmost?

Our weather forecast is for 'icy rain' tonight and tomorrow morning but this afternoon we'll enjoy as much warm weather as we can get. Maybe some of the dreaded mud will even dry up.

5 comments:

Erin said...

Mudbird... that's priceless! Definitely the worst part of Spring. Wow, the photos are great, after the winter I just about forgot how BIG your garden is! I may have to look back on those coldframe posts you did last year so I can show hubby! I hope your boots don't stick in the mud, lol

RuthieJ said...

Splish Splash!
I love that goose picture!

We still have so much more snow on the ground here....I can see just one small corner of one of my raised beds. I'm sure it will be weeks before our mud starts drying up. I'm glad the temps are finally into the 40's but still think the transition from winter to spring is one of the ugliest times of the year!

Mama Pea said...

Hey, Erin - Hubby and I are finally to the point where we're realizing we don't need all the garden space we have just to raise enough food for us. Even when we were raising to sell for a cash crop, we still had plenty of garden space.

So far, the mud is getting deeper and deeper so there still is the real chance I'll lose a boot or two!

Hi, Ruthie - Our temp hit over 50° today for the first time so we had a lot more melting. But it was still gray and damp so not much drying.

Yup, I'll take barren fall over barren winter/spring any time.

D said...

Hello Mama Pea, and bless you in northeastern Minnesota. I spent 2 years working in MN and dearly loved it, especially the people, but can't say I miss the below zero temps, only miss my best friend who lives there.

Your garden looks like its readying itself. A few more days, a few more days... and spring will be here. Happy gardening. Diana (now in Oregon)

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Di - Thanks for stopping by! Gotta say I envy you your NW flowers and kinder climate . . . but I'm not sure I could live in as much dampness as you have. Guess no place is perfect, is it?

We're thinking "early spring" this year, but Mother Nature usually has snow in the works for us in the month of March so we shall try to be patient.