On Friday, we removed all the car seats, folded the seats down to make as much space as we could, filled up on snacks and coffee and knitting, and in the blissfull silence of an empty car, took our annual date to the FEDCO tree sale. There, we filled up on all sorts of good things - trees, shrubs, bulbs, seeds, tubers, and tools. Interrupted every so often in our shopping by visits with friends we encountered doing the same. Doing our best to squeeze it into those empty seats we made the journey home where the work of the weekend began. And by the pull of the full moon this weekend, we did just that all day long and into the dark. Dig, plant, water, mulch. Over and over and over again for the apple trees, and elderberries and winterberries and cherries and oh my....so many things went into the ground this weekend, and yet the pile 'still to be planted' is even larger.
This weekend - this first burst of spring planting - carries with it such a push of energy, of wishful thinking and great optimism about just what can be done this year....and the next. I love it so - it fuels us all along in the busy season ahead. And at our sides? Well, the best peat moss scoopers, compost shovelers, and waterers we ever could ask for. Surely, with all that strength of the full moon, optimism and hope, and earnest little hands, these things we plant will grow.