Environment

Poor Will's Almanack for the second week of Early Spring

The other day, someone asked me, "What is the point of keeping track of things like flowers and birds?"

And I answered that - without my notes - I would literally feel lost in space.

I tried to explain that for me place and time do not exist outside of personal observations and feelings. I wake up in my familiar bed, see the same trees, the same roads, the same family. I put on familiar clothes, listen to familiar sounds, recall familiar memories. I therefore know where I am and who I am.

Poor Will's Almanack for the first week of Early Spring.

By this point in the year, my daybook of events in nature reveals many of the pieces of the fabric which forms Early Spring.

Poor Will’s Almanack for the Third Week of Late Winter

It's almost Early Spring. Time to be paying attention, time to be getting ready. ​

When you hear mourning doves singing before dawn, then organize all your buckets for tapping maple syrup. ​

When you hear red-winged blackbirds, then the maple sap should already be running. ​

When aconites bloom, then spread fertilizer in the field and garden so that it can work its way into the ground before planting. ​

When the first daffodil foliage is two inches tall, then go to the wetlands to find skunk cabbage in bloom. ​

When you see sparrows courting, then cut branches of forsythia and silver maples for forcing indoors. ​