So Fresh and So Green

Ohio sometimes gifts us with the most bizarre of weather. This past weekend was no exception, with a blissful beginning on Saturday with sunshine and high temps, followed by Sunday's perpetual misting and yesterday's downpours. It's as if Mother Nature is crying, like the whole of earth is suffering from some lingering Seasonal Affective Disorder or Depression and can't shake off the bad memories of this most recent, very memorable winter. Today I wake to birdsong, sunshine and temps in the 70s, all the while reminded by the weatherman that by 3 pm we should be on the lookout for hail. Here it is early evening and there isn't a cloud in the sky. At least it's not boring. Here at the Semi-Farm, we never really know what to expect.

During the brief bits of warmth and relative dryness Saturday before work, I finally got to survey the flooding in the yard and check on my strawberry patch, which also seem to have been recently visited by a rather large and hungry deer, judging from the hoof prints in moist dirt and the few runners that had been nibbled off here and there. I don't think the plants are doing too badly though, as I see quite a few new leaves beginning to grow. I'm not sure how many berries we'll get this season, but at least the deer are getting some enjoyment out of the small plot.

Much of the yard is still swampy, but hubs did manage to mow the grass inside the fence in the back yard. It's a good thing it didn't rain today. In just a few more days the grass would have been so tall, we'd probably have had to sent a search party to find the dog after sending him out to do his business. It's a jungle out there, surely.

The yard is starting to look like a lush, green velvet carpet and all the trees are beginning to bud out and get fresh leaves. Little tinges of spring are evident just on the fringes of everything, like a green mascara coating the tips of tree branches. There is some kind of wild lettuce growing in the nature preserve down the street and the forest floor has a fresh carpet of moss to liven up the place. My little bit of Medina County is coming alive it seems.  As good as all this rain has been for the grass and deer who like making their own Ohio version of Hollywood Stars in the strawberries, it's been hell on getting the garden started. I'm afraid to direct sow any seeds while it is so damp for fear they'll just rot, and those wacky weathermen (who are really just fortune tellers with ties) said something about wet snow next week with temps hovering in the 40s, so frost is still a very real (albeit distant) possibility. It's hard to believe when it's70 degrees that tomorrow could have me reaching for the flannel sheets instead of the flip flops. Mother Nature in Ohio is one crazy bi-polar lady.

Just like the rest of it is now, one of these days that patch of dirt in the yard will be green too. And orange. And purple. And red. If not before, my vacation will bring food here to the Semi-Farm, so long as it's not underwater.