I don’t know how people north of me do it. Honestly. I’m angry that the calendar says “May” and the high today never got out of the 50’s. I’d never make it if there was still a chance for snow.

Despite the heavy rain yesterday and the cool temps today, I still managed to get outside and spend hours with my hands in the dirt. It’s not quite as much fun as planting the garden, but putting perennials in the ground is a close second. I thought by now I’d have established beds with huge hostas, ferns and coral bells growing under all my oak trees, but I’ve apparently instead been designated as the one to keep the garden centers and nurseries profitable, as every year I’m back buying replacement plants for the ones that didn’t make it from last year. I’ll get it right eventually.

I didn’t get mulch yesterday and so I had to just plant and clean out the beds without adding the finishing touch of fresh black mulch. The girls in the coop were not in the least bit amused that I was out scratching around in the dirt and they were left in the run, but the hens are not the least helpful with cleaning up the beds, so they are in for the summer now. Once I started bringing bucketfuls of dirt, leaves, twigs and old mulch from the beds into the chicken run, however, they were quite content to scratch away even if it was inside the chicken wire.

There is a peacefulness to being outside in the country. The hens clucking in the run, the splash of a robin in the birdbath, and the songs of all the migratory birds returning for the season. Trudy does a great job of staying nearby. She will follow James to the barn, but when he starts up the chainsaw, she trots herself back up to the house to see what I am up to and supervises the cleanup while keeping an eye out for deer or rabbits that demand a quick chase off the property.

Even without the finishing touch of mulch, the beds I was able to conquer today look significantly better already. As always, I am excited and optimistic about the new plants and hope they will fill in and grow and save my bank account from more purchases next year (but even as I type that, I know I’m just kidding myself. I can’t stay away from garden centers and nurseries in the spring!) Over the next few weeks, the temps will rise, the sun will shine more often than not and my sprouts will move from the basement to the porch and then to the garden.

But for today, I enjoyed the time I spent in the dirt. A collection of worms in a jar made the chicks happy in the end, the cleared beds are all prepped and ready for mulch and my soul found peace in the feel and smell of damp earth, the delight in things growing, and the yearly progress we make on the farm. Simple spring chores are anything but when they soothe the soul like they did today. A blessed little thing indeed.

“Live in each season as it passes; breath the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”

– Henry David Thoreau