The Animals Know

I take a walk with the dogs most days. Most of the time we wander the fields and forest just below our house. The joys of these daily walks are so many. I love to see how happy the dogs are out smelling. I love the sun on my face. I love smelling the earth. I love moving my body and I love the wildlife we see. Sometimes my girls or husband accompany me on these walks, but mostly I enjoy the alone time.

Recently I was on a walk with my oldest daughter and we spied our first robin this year. As we continued our walk we heard a flock of thousands of Canadian geese about a mile away on a slough. It was such a beautiful sound this time of the year as it has been quite with the snow. We both stopped to listen.

I started thinking...Do you remember the book, “The Long Winter”, by Laura Ingalls Wilder? Pa said that he had never seen the animals go south so early and he was concerned for their family, suspecting the animals knew it will be an early and hard winter. And he was right. I agree with Pa that the animals know.

I think the animals are telling us this year will be an early and mild spring. We have had one of the strangest winters I can remember. It was incredibly mild, until in mid-January we catapulted into -35 degrees, only to have the next week soar by 75 degrees to 45 degrees above zero. It has snowed on and off and been above freezing for many days. Winter is not sure what she is doing, but I think the animals know.

I will happily prepare for an early spring by getting the hoophouse weeded and ready to seed and setting up the greenhouse for my spring plantings. I plan to take an early trip to get my potting soil and compost this year. I am planning to start some microgreens soon, and chicks are only 3 weeks from arriving. All this just in case.... the animals are right.