Still waiting for spring…

…slowly unfolding, burgeoning life pushes up from the dark, wet soil …breaking through the loamy crust to uncoil silvery-green fronds…

…stretching toward the still lowering clouds, seeking, a glimpse; a sense of sunlight beneath the blanket of wintry sky …pulling in each watery strand of light to weave within itself a new shoot, bud, leaf …flower.

…pushing up, bursting open …hungry leaf or thirsty petal to receive the blessing of warmth …life returns.

…sitting quietly, watching and listening I can almost hear the rustles and creaks of unfolding nature …the odours on the south-westerly have changed; sweeter now, they speak of life not decay…

…the soil is still too cold to sow seeds but the new fruit trees, hawthorn and silver birch are waiting to thrust their root-fingers into the ground.

…after all the rain and cold the birds are beginning their spring rituals and a flock of silent, tiny fire tails swoop as one to a puddle of rain water as it steams lightly in the weak sunshine… rare visitors to the farm they seek out the hedgerows grown specifically for the abounding bird life that find its way to the farm…

…tap, tap, tap, on the roof, signals the return of the raven pair …the female with her silvery flash on one wing, ducks away from her mate’s enticing display of a still wriggling bug …she’s already laid her eggs and won’t stay too long away from them …the currawong, cuckoo shrike and kookaburra are ever ready to raid the nest for a tasty snack of egg …just as raven raids our hen’s nests at the first triumphant squawk from a layer…

…nature is an opportunist and with 10 healthy ‘lay girls’ we have enough to share …in return nature gifts us with rapturous mating displays, tender rearing of young who sit in all shapes and sizes along the fence-line waiting for their food…

…somehow, at this time of year all the harshness of the winter months simply begins to fall away…

…elder leaves open, cherry, hazelnut and plum begin to pop their buds and sleepy bees will begin to return, humming their bee-songs to coax the nectar and pollens from the spreading blossoms…

…spring returns …slowly gently the light returns …Ostara, Spring Equinox is just a few weeks away and then life renews in a rush …messy, noisy, boisterous …teeming life…

…deep in the spring …where the waters sing

…the source of all life can be heard on the wing

…you will hear Her song …once weak now strong

…from the depths of the well …feel Her Magicks …Her spell

…in liquid drops of first dew …as all life She renews

…blessings on your spring renewal …Penny