Bright Ideas

I’ve been thinking about this article for weeks, watching the grass green up everywhere I looked. Brice reported seeing the beginning of buds on our old apple tree. I hope it doesn’t bloom too early, only to have blossoms frozen leaving us with no apples yet another year. We only have one unopened jar of applesauce, made in 2015.

Brice and our neighbor mowed lawns last week, wanting to get ahead of any precipitation. Some of the grass was very thick and long, requiring slow mowing and frequent stops to clean out the accumulation.

The daffodils and jonquils bloomed, and tulips were starting when two inches of snow was predicted, with five days forecast to have lows in the thirties and highs in the forties. I suppose spring snows are common enough to be expected, but it didn’t snow after all!

The sun is supposed to shine on Thursday, the day many of you will read this. Was it shining when you went to the Post Office? I hope so. I am always happier when it shines.

Brice hasn’t been in the garden to till the soil; it’s been too muddy to try that. Some people plant potatoes early. Brice gets that done in late May, but they’re ready to dig in the fall when he gets to it.

The garlic, planted last fall, is coming up in a neat row. Eventually the garden will all be tilled and sterilized manure spread on it. With that done, maybe cucumbers will produce and Brice can make pickles.

We also need to make dilly beans. Brice orders a special bean for that; it grows, straight, for eight inches, long enough to reach from bottom to top of a quart jar. Dilly beans are picked when the beans are young, and slender. They’re a good substitute for a dill pickle.

So when these gray skies brighten up I’ll try to think of another Bright Idea. Until then, I’ll sign off.