It felt like it would never come. On faith I planted peas and spinach May1st just before leaving on a two-week trip, trusting Nature to do her job. She didn’t disappoint. Upon our return, there were tiny seedlings popping out of the cool moist earth.

As a bonus, we found the apple trees we had pruned in bloom, and blossoms on the wild blueberries in the fields which did not produce any fruit last year. These lovely bell-shaped flowers give me hope for a more productive season. Bring on the pollinators!

Even the plum tree that was damaged by a porcupine was laden with flowers.

As the sun was shining after weeks of rain, we wasted no time in moving composted manure and screened loam into our new raised beds. I tried to do it manually, one wheel barrow at a time and was exhausted after five trips.

Nils did some research and discovered you can rent something called a mud buggy that is a kind of miniature motorized dump truck. We found one at Ace Hardware and completed our work within 24 hours. Here’s a video of him moving loam onto a path. He’s wearing a baffle to protect himself from the black flies. Yeah, they also come in the spring, and are pretty intense.

After all that exertion, we were happy to go inside to relax, and enjoy nature from the inside looking out. Now, if we can just get the grass to grow a little faster…