Spring seems to be arriving earlier every year with the changes in the climate. This year, the Miner’s Lettuce starting coming up in December! It’s usual course over 20 years on this property meant that we could enjoy the lettuce in a variety of ways through March. This year, we are seeing the browning edges and evidence of flowers in late February.
Other signs of spring revealed themselves more than a month early this year. The mustard is abundant, but shorter when it begins blooming. In spite of this unsettling experience of change in the rhythms of nature, there are exciting and fun new features popping up.
Last year, the tree frogs arrived in full force. Their beautiful harmonies were a pleasant lullaby during the winter rains. In spring, hundreds of the little buggers hopped out of our water large catchment pool and made out for the far reaches of the garden.
Lo and behold! There’s one on the mint plant I’m watering. Or I see one hopping away as the water is streaming onto the chard. This year’s cacophonous harmonies have come in early spring.
So far, they aren’t visible in the pool, I imagine that it is mating time. Somehow, their voices as they rise in song have a myriad forms of expression. Sometimes, they sound like a choir that begins and ends on a perfectly timed note. Other times, there is a sense of aggression or conflict in their sounds.
Frogs are seen as symbolic of abundance, fertility, rebirth and transformation. It will be fascinating to see what the rest of spring brings as the results of their mating dance matures and spreads their message through the garden.
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