happy trails

 On one of our short walks along our road last Autumn,
Piper and I noticed a patch of Epigaea repens: trailing arbutus, or mayflower.
This is what a section of it looked like on 16 September 2019:

(You can left-click to embiggen all these images.)

This patch of arbutus does not have an easy life.

In early April, the plants looked like this:

I didn't know how early it might bloom
so we've walked that way often to check on it.

We had a fairly heavy snowstorm
shortly before these three pictures were taken,
on the 19th of April.
 The first shows the entire patch of arbutus,
on the slope in the right side of the photograph:

Something caught my eye.
Can you see it?

I put the camera on the ground for a closer view.

These delicate buds had been buried in snow one day earlier.

And six days later, yesterday:

This last picture is my favorite:

The little flowers peeping out from beneath tough, tattered leaves,

amongst a criss-cross tangle of pine needles and twigs,

finding a small beam of sunlight.

I hope you are also finding all the sunlight you need.

~~~~~

wednesday wittering

How is everyone getting on?

I hope those of you who don't have your own blogs will say hello in a comment from time to time. Ever since I tried to sort out that commenting glitch and in the process discovered that more than 1,300 people subscribe to Comptonia, I've been wondering who you all are and what you are up to. There couldn't be a better time to reach out a little bit and connect with friends on the internet, right?

blooming where we are planted

Is everyone taking care of themselves? Plenty of sleep? Eating well?

I've been craving fresh greens but resisting going to the grocery store. Suddenly I remembered how easy it is to sprout seeds. Funny how something that has been a habit winter after winter can just be completely forgotten. This winter I didn't dust off the sprouting jars at all.

But once I (finally) thought of it, a quick rummage produced a bag of organic mung beans. A couple of tablespoons of beans and some water, and in a couple of days there were plenty of fresh tasty sprouts for snacking, for adding to soup, and - a surprisingly successful experiment - folding into omelettes.

sprouts added to soup just before serving - warm and crunchy

A couple of weeks ago I signed up with Misfits Market for a bi-weekly delivery of a small box of organic veg and fruit. During the winter I'd considered trying such an arrangement for the pre-garden season, and when Staying Home For The Safety of Oneself And Others became the norm, that clinched it.

the top layer - fruit and more veg beneath

The first box arrived yesterday, and it brought both the fun of opening a mystery package and the challenge of using every item in the box before it can lose quality. Yesterday I had a lettuce and tomato salad for lunch - so simple, so good! - and roasted bok choy and carrots for supper. That's more fresh veg in one day than I'd had in the past two weeks.

salad again today - a treat

I like the company's mission statement, their ethos, their apparent passion for reducing food waste and providing access to affordable organic food to more people. But at the end of the day, it's the delivered product that matters. So...we'll see. After I've had another box or two - or three - I'll post a little review of my experience. Meanwhile, the company offers a referral discount code, so if anyone wants to try it, just let me know.

~~~

And of course, the other kind of harvest - cashmere - continues.

Slowly, slowly.

This evening I combed Lily of the Valley for the first time this year.

Lily is always one of the most difficult goats to work with. As I carefully, gently comb, talking quietly and offering treats, Lily chooses to sink to the floor of the barn like a hundred-pound pillow. She then stretches her neck to it's most uncomfortable-looking extreme, and twists her head around with an expression that suggests she knows death is imminent, and while she is resigned to her tragic fate she cannot help wondering "why?"

Every.

Year.

~~~

This picture is from yesterday's walk.

Piper is helping me check on a patch of trailing arbutus we noticed last Autumn. Epigaea repens, mayflower or trailing arbutus, is the "state flower" of Massachusetts.

Maybe this year we'll see it bloom.

I'll keep you posted.

Take care.

~~~~~

every day is earth day

(I started writing this "Earth Day" post last night and fell asleep with my hands on the keyboard. Fortunately for me, Earth Day comes around with each sunrise.)

Epigaea repens

Trailing Arbutus

Mayflower

When I was little, I learned that this Spring-flowering gem is the official flower of Massachusetts, and that "picking it is Against The Law!" But only when I was about to post this picture did I realize I don't know exactly what that means. Is it Rare? Protected? Endangered?

So I fell down the google rabbit-hole, and wasted a lot of time on found a lot of contradictory "facts" and "history." The way you do.

Then I smartened up a little bit and visited the Massachusetts Legislature website to find the number of the existing law. Then on to the State Archives, to find the history of the law. The original law written in 1918 simply designated the mayflower "the flower or floral emblem of the commonwealth." This law was amended alarmingly soon; in 1925 the following language was added "as an emergency law, to prevent the extinction of the mayflower": 

Any person who pulls up or digs up the plant of the mayflower or any part thereof, or injures such plant or any part thereof except in so far as is reasonably necessary in procuring the flower therefrom, within the limits of any state highway or any other public way or place, or upon the land of another person without written authority from him, shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars; but if a person does any of the aforesaid acts while in disguise or secretly in the nighttime he shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.

~~~

I wonder what was behind the law being written in that way, don't you? Very belated Boston Tea Party backlash? 

~~~

There was a further amendment in 1953, which spelled out who has the authority/responsibility to enforce the law. Making me wonder if the law had ever been - or will ever be - enforced. Anyone looking for a Term Paper project in botany/history/law? There you go. Please share a copy; I'd love to read it.

Meanwhile, I'll be over here, enjoying this lovely little patch of Epigaea repens I happened upon yesterday. I don't see it often, so finding it blooming was a special treat.

p.s. Trailing Arbutus is very unlikely to survive being transplanted, as it relies on the presence of a specific soil fungus. Even if I was tempted to be a villainous arbutus-thief, I wouldn't risk it. Not even without a disguise.

~~~~~