Spring is finally here

I'm glad to say that spring is finally arriving here in my part of the world.  It sure has taken its time this year, but things are beginning to turn green instead of being brown.  I won't mention the fact that there are flurries forecast for tomorrow because that would just ruin everything...

So, I have daffodils!  Yay!  The one thing that the goats simply don't eat.  I'm not sure why, but apparently they just don't taste good.  All the other bulbs were destroyed by the goats, before they really made it out of the ground, but the daffodils keep coming back.  That's a lovely treat for me since I love gardening and used to have a really beautiful flower garden.  One day when I get fences put up, I can have one again I hope.

There are three different daffodil cultivars in my garden now - the classic all yellow, the one above that is white with the pale yellow "frilly" inside, and this one below, which is rather beautiful with its dark orange rim.  See the little ant in there?  I didn't notice that when I took this picture!

The tree leaves are just starting to come out.  That's pretty late, even for here.

I have a lot of trees with black knot fungus.  Unfortunately it's so widespread in this area that there really isn't much point to trying to control it.  It only affects Prunus species, which in this area means choke-cherries and wild plums.  It looks unsightly but the leaves cover it later in the summer.

Down on the swampy part of my field, the wild iris patch is coming back.  They have beautiful yellow flowers later in the early summer.  It's strange because there's just this one patch, but it's lovely when it's in bloom.  It's nice to see those green spears returning.  Here's a picture of the patch from my driveway.

Here they are a little more close-up!  I think if I were a duck or other water bird, I'd like to hang out in the middle of that patch to build my nest!

Some of the trees are beginning to blossom now.  These have a lovely scent.

I'm particularly pleased to see copious blossoms forming on the apple trees.  Last year there weren't any apples on most of the trees because there was a late frost and the blossoms didn't make it.  I'm hoping for a better harvest this year.  They make great treats for goats and sheep!

This is one of those interesting evergreen species that loses its needles every year.  They're starting to emerge again now.  I think it's a larch species but I'm not sure which one.  If anyone knows, I'd be delighted to find out.

Also, I've seen some tadpoles in the stream!  This picture shows the area that makes a fairly deep pool most of the time, and that's where I see tadpoles at this time of year, and fish later in the year.  The rest of the stream is shallower, rushing over rocks and making little waterfalls, but this one area stays more calm and has slower movement.  When I walk by, if the sun is in the right spot, my shadow makes all the tadpoles and little fish dart to the shady spots to hide.

So here's how it looks overall when I'm taking Jet for a walk on my field - the grass is certainly green now and the trees are starting to get a green glow as the leaves emerge.  There's still a lot of vegetation that hasn't broken bud yet, and therefore a lot of bare branches.  But, at least it's nicer to look at when it's green!  Unfortunately, the blackflies are out as well, and I had a swarm of about 20 around me on this walk.  I will have to start wearing my bug jacket when we go for walks or I will be forever scratching at bites.

In other news, the Deanne Fitzpatrick Rug Hooking store in Amherst, Nova Scotia, is now carrying 5-yard lengths of my handspun yarns for rug hookers.  It's not latch hooking - it's another kind of traditional rug hooking that is often done with strips of wool cloth, but can also be done with yarn. There are plenty of examples on her website of the types of rugs and wall hangings that are made that way.  Here are the yarns I took this past week.

And finally, here's a picture of wee Fezzik the goat, because I just love his smile.  One of these days he'll have to have a post of his own.  Signing off from spring in Nova Scotia!