God's Green Earth

We’ve come to end of April already. Tomorrow is the 1st of May, which begins the three month period I love best in the year. May, June, and July are the glorious long-day months. Even now the dawn light starts at 5:30 A.M. and twilight lingers on after 8:00 P.M. – and the hours of light will grow even longer. This morning at dawn, on my way back up from the barn, I took a walk around the yard. I do that every morning now when I have time. The mornings are so beautiful. I love the soft light and the dew. The world is full of the singing of birds now. They start before dawn and sing until it gets dark – then the peepers take over.

At dawn this morning.

At dawn.

May 1st is a special day in our family. It’s the birthday of my grandmother Mabel Jane Howe. She was born May 1, 1893, in a place near North Bingham called Moon’s Corners, about 14 miles from here. The house she was born in still stands. We called her Nana but she was also Dr. Howe, a pioneering female chiropractor, and a remarkable woman. Last week I announced the birth of Rachel and Tabor’s third child, then named Magnolia Fern. Magnolia has now become Mabel. Rachel went back and forth on the name for months before the birth and settled on Magnolia, but after a day or two, Rachel said it just didn’t seem to fit, so now the baby is officially Mabel. A good name with a great heritage to go with it.

I love the seasons of the year. I love them each for their differences. When I lived in a milder place, I missed the variety of the seasons. I even love winter. Although it seems too long after February, it has its place and purpose. But in all the year, the most thrilling seasonal event to me is the greening of the earth in spring. Green has always been my favorite color. Even before I discovered my love of plants and gardens, I loved the color green. And in the spring to see the brown winter landscape take on its first blush of green is miraculous to me no matter how many times I’ve seen it. There are a thousand shades of green in the spring. Each type of tree, each different bush, and every variety of grass has its own shade. And all the bright colors of the spring flowers, the yellow daffodils and dandelions and forsythia, the red and pink tulips, the purples, blues, and oranges of the crocuses, hyacinths, and violas, all shine best against the general background of spring’s glowing green.

Green is the color of life. When God designed the world he might have chosen some other color to dominate the lusher parts of the planet. I read once that science has determined that red is a more efficient pigment for photosynthesizing light in the process the plants use to make the air we breath. Why then is chlorophyll green? I think green is God’s favorite color, if he has one. In the Book of Revelations, John in the fourth chapter describes the throne of God – “And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.” God sits on throne encompassed by an emerald green rainbow. I rest my case.

We’ve had glorious weather all week. A few mornings were frosty, but they are becoming rarer now. Most days are warm enough to allow me to work outdoors in shirt sleeves. The woodpile on the front porch is gone and will not be renewed again until fall. We had enough rain during the week to keep the garden happy, but not water logged. Good things are happening in the garden. The lettuce has sprouted, the rhubarb is gigantic, and the asparagus has come up (we’re having the first picking for lunch today). The black current bush is in bloom and perfuming the whole garden with the scent of spicy cloves. The pear trees have begun to flower and the apples are not far behind. Weather permitting, we’ll have abundant fruit this year.

The rhubarb.

The black currant bush.

 Down at the barn, things have settled down after the arrival of the new chicks. We had a minor tragedy when the chick’s drinker leaked and several chicks got wet and hypothermic. Three of them died despite all we could do to warm and dry them. But the remaining thirteen are doing well. I go down first thing every morning to check on them before I go to school and last thing in the evening before I go to bed. They are already starting to fledge and soon I’ll be able to take them out of their box and let them have the freedom of the larger chick pen.

Saturday was a Stake Temple Day and Stacey and I spent most of the day in Palmyra and around Rochester. The temple was wonderful. I love going to the temple. After the temple, we took a walk through the Sacred Grove. It was peaceful and green. The drive there and back was beautiful. Western New York State is a beautiful place, especially now, in the spring. On our way home we stopped at Stony Brook Park near Dansville, New York, and took a walk to stretch our legs after all that time in the car. The park was very pretty. There were redbud trees blooming, which caught our eye and tempted us to stop.

The Palmyra Temple.

On our walk through the Sacred Grove.

Stony Brook State Park.

The redbud trees in Stony Brook.

We just got back from church. It is a warm and sunny and perfect spring day. Lunch is nearly ready. I can almost taste that first sweet asparagus. Then after lunch I think we’ll go for a walk up to the woods. I’ll even postpone a Sabbath nap to be outdoors on a beautiful day like this.

Asparagus in the garden.

Asparagus for lunch!