Now that winter is over, that is . . . It was a hard, tough winter for all God’s creatures–at least it was in this part of the world. Take the deer, for instance.
This shot from March shows how the bold deer have nibbled away at the cedars that flank this end of our house.
They have eaten on cedars that surround our house.
We had a hungry deer population this winter. Can you see how much more they have eaten of the cedar beside the basement door?
At the bottom of the lawn, they also went after the yews.
In the past 14 years, this is the only time the deer have eaten this much of our yews.
The sad part of this story is that everything looks so dead this spring. They say that spring will arrive late and be slow in doing so. But on the positive side of the ledger, the slow warming trend allowed much of the snow melt to sink into the ground and we weren’t faced with severe flooding as we have seen in past years. It also resulted in fewer problem areas along the secondary (dirt) road that we live beside.
Rejoice the sun is shining and green is peeking. More on that next time.
So, does that kill the plants? Will they come back…or will they just be naked on the bottom?
I haven’t really had a good look at the plants in the yard yet, but the pond inhabitants did well. I have 3 frogs that survived, plus a TON of snails. I’m thinking with all the snow, the pond was well-insulated.
It won’t kill them. One of the cedars has provided deer food for some years. It is “naked” for the first six feet. The result is it looks like a green corn dog standing on end.
I’m glad your pond critters did well over the winter. Snow will help insulate. A neighborhood farmer says that in some areas that were snow covered, the frost did not go that deep. The county newspaper in writing about our roads reported that in cleared areas, the frost went four to six feet deep. That is twice as deep as frost usually penetrates around here.
Lots of cold and wet for the early part of this week. But it’s looking better for later in the week.
It might also be another good fruit year!
My farmer friends agree with you. :dance:
I’m looking forward to Michigan apples. :awe: To me there’s nothing better . . . unless it’s my rhubarb in a Sylvia-built pie. :cloud9:
The winter was so hard on my yard this year. I went out yesterday to start prep work on the front and it was so much work that I started grumbling. :rain: Then I thought how lucky we are to have this land, and that beautiful yard, and how awesome it was that the sun is shining, and I started giving thanks for our bountiful blessings. It sure made the yard work more fun. I was glad to do it after that, actually. Funny how fast God corrects you and gives you a change of heart when you start grumbling to him, isn’t it? :yea:
Yes, He has a wonderful way of recalibrating us when we get mixed up like that. I’ve experienced it too. :surrender:
We spent yesterday and today doing outside work. Today we finished and started toward the house as the rain began to fall. :frolic: Lots to do yet, but we’ve got a good start. :dance:
Rejoice! And the deer rejoice too, for they’ve something to eat besides evergreens.
Life is good! 😎
the rivers in Lowell have flooded some but nothing like last year. flowers around my house are coming up so that is a good sign for me. just think, you helped the wild life make it through the winter.
Considering the higher than normal snow fall and the fact that it stayed so long, we are fortunate not have had worse flooding.
Yes, we did our part, but only to the point of not objecting to what they ate. We didn’t put additional food for them.