— The Property Line, That Is

On Fridays, my Jewish employer closes early for the sabbath. That, plus now being on summer time, means plenty of sunlight left after work for a small adventure.

While it’s full springtime down in the New York City area, the season is only first beginning to change up here in Maine. With the last of the season’s snow melting and maybe only a snowfall or two yet on the horizon, the garden is almost ready to plant the first peas, although the winter garden is burgeoning with spinach and kale. It’s a balmy 65 degrees in there right now, even with the vents open!

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The turning of the season is also a good time to walk the property line, to determine what spring chores should be prioritized, but also looking for trouble. (A couple years back, there was some trouble with some illegal logging on my parents’ land, along with their neighbor’s land and the “Back Forty” that Grandpa long ago donated to the Loon Echo Land Trust.)

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It was a lovely tromp through the woods. Some snow, lots of mushy, swampy spots, and some verdant examples of moss-covered stumps and stones. Even some epic downed trees that fell over the winter and will need to be tended to (perhaps as firewood) this year.

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Then we went down across the street to check out the lake side of the property. This year’s day lilies are already starting to reach for the sun!

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On our way back up from the house, we paused for a moment to check out my sister’s beehives. Though she went into the winter thinking she was finally making progress at beekeeping, her bees inexplicably up and died mid-winter, and ultimately today would be the day she hauled the honey-heavy hives back into storage.

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None of us know what those red berries are (maybe Highbush Cranberries?), but they’re a gorgeous brilliant red in the drab end of winter!