Collaborating with Mother Nature

Apple tree beginning to grow

The apple trees are beginning to open their leaves, and it is a gratifying sight. Each year I prune them quite severely and then spend a month or two worrying that I went too far, they won’t come back this year, they are too old and I am stressing them out too much by pruning….my list goes on. But once again they have sprung back to life with exuberant glory!

Their form when pruned is very interesting – I sometime call them my Halloween trees or my Fairy trees because of their odd outlines and rambling, twisted branches. The silhouette of one of them reminds me of a woman taking a stride forward with both arms raised, and I have tried to capture this ghostly impression many times through various art techniques but the essence of it always eludes me ( and sadly, the arms fell off my clay sculpture of it; it’s become a Venus de Milo of apple trees!). I think that it’s because I can never artistically create something so full of life and energy, only the Earth can do that. 

When all is said and done, I am happy to be an observer of this beauty and to try to use it in my garden – I don’t have to create it, just place it and encourage it to develop and let Mother Nature do the rest. Collaborative creation at its finest

The Plant Lady

Mini Forest

The mini forest is one of my favourite areas on my farm. It is near the house so it can be observed year round with ease. Its northern side is bounded by a small, rushing brook that swells in springtime to creek status and by August has mostly dried up. In early spring you can’t get to the mini forest on foot because the creek looks innocent enough but can easily suck you down into the mud bottom, never to be seen again. Even if you could cross the creek, the mini forest is always partially under water until around the end of May.

Small brook trout wiggle their way south-eastward through the creek, often pausing to rest in the shade of the mini forest. Crows know this and wait with eager anticipation for some unwary fish to wander to the side and become entangled in the long grasses and bulrushes, dooming themselves to being lunch.

Willow, Daffodils and White Pine in Mini Forest

There are trilliums, daffodils, toad lilies and some very pretty moss growing all over the ground under the trees. One large stone juts out of the ground and a dead tree stands beside it, covered with ivy that grows like water in slow motion, churning, frothing and roiling up over and around the trunk.

A row of small, solemn little white pines sits quietly under the large, native trees along the western side. They were planted last year for Earth Day and have made it through the winter looking very healthy. I’m proud of the little tykes!

The Plant Lady

Searching for last year’s trees….

Baby Pine Trees Planted In 2008

I went out searching for some evidence of the little trees we planted last year – 540 of them! But there are not that many to be found so far.

I fell into the little creek as I was trying to grab a piece of styrofoam that was floating by! I got tangled up in my own legs after getting my boots mired in the heavy muck at the bottom. It was surprisingly deep and really, like quicksand!  I did survive, obviously But darn, it was COLD!

 

Native Shrub Planted In 2008