Relative Something

In the absence of an enjoyable run of warm sunny days, spring greening has advanced undaunted. I get the impression I will need to begin the season of lawn mowing soon. In a defensive reaction to that reality, I have been trying to imagine how and where I can step back the borders of mowed grass to expand areas of natural ground cover.

Unlike that pathway in the photo, some of our mowed trails are becoming more moss-covered every year. I would really like to avoid driving over the moss with the mower in those areas, but I will need to devise an alternate plan for controlling the growth of anything taller than moss that continues to show up.

There are a lot of buds beginning to appear on the tree branches, triggering a sense of anticipation for the weeks when green growth flourishes at a pace that becomes nearly impossible for us to keep up with in the places where we need to manage it.

Lately, it feels like our greatest challenges have been in striving to eradicate invasive garlic mustard patches and defeating a tenacious web of tree-climbing vines infesting a large portion of our woods.

We experienced some heavy rain showers last night, and the ground is very swampy everywhere we walked in the woods. In the paddocks, it’s just plain muddy. We took the coverings off the horses this morning. The rain sheets had become mud-caked and weren’t doing much to keep the horses dry anymore. I wouldn’t call the weather warm yet, but it looks to be just enough beyond that freezing precipitation threat that the horses will be able to cope with their backs bare.

I don’t want to appear greedy, but it would be great if the universe would consider tossing us some extended sunshine and a run of daytime temperatures above the 50s (F). Maybe throw in a full purge of all criminals holding office in our government and incarceration for the villains pulling the strings behind the scenes for good measure.

I mean, as long as I’m putting in requests…

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