The squirrels and the local birds that have grown accustomed to eating at the fall/winter/spring smorgasbord that my husband places out for them look somewhat forlorn finding that it has all mysteriously disappeared. The wildlife feeding platform that the squirrels and raccoons have found so full of delectable nuts and seeds and the bird feeders as well, now gone. At this time of year, finally, they need no food placed out for them any longer. There is ample available that can be selected naturally in their environment.

And, at long last, I have my garden restored. Now, all that remains of those feeders is the seed spill-over directly into the garden necessitating that what they spawn must be removed. Oh, I'll leave a few of the multitudes of sunflowers that have popped out of the soil, but the rest will go. And birds and squirrels still forage in the gardens, finding ample seed that they had carelessly sprinkled out of the containers meant to hold them.

My husband cleaned up the front for the final time yesterday, from seed hulls and all manner of left-overs. And he has been busy for days scraping down the deck, cleansing it of years-worth of water-proof stain in preparation for re-applying a fresh, new coat to the deck he rebuilt about eight years ago from the original built 25 years earlier. Once that is done he will erect a new awning, one with a more permanent cover, not of canvas, but of light-emitting plastic built over an ornamental metal armature. Which will have to be shed of snow manually after build-ups in the winter, and that's another problem to be dealt with, in the future.

 Immature Meadow rue

No amount of being busy keeps us from our ravine treks, however, and yesterday's revealed new volunteers to the panoply of vegetation that is slowly beginning to evince itself on the bare forest floor. I was surprised to see meadow rue coming up so soon, and disappointed to see that the one plant that I really don't care for, horsetail, is also emerging, too suddenly and far too much coverage of it.

Emerging Horsetails

Ferns are beginning to pop out of the forest floor to eventually create the solid green bracken we're accustomed to seeing. The first of the false Solomon's Seal has also erupted. And to our amazement, looking up at the tree canopy of the forest, many of the poplars are now sporting new foliage, certainly not mature size, but convincingly present.

Immature False Solomon's Seal

The wild apple trees will soon set their blossoms and so will the honeysuckle and the dogwood. Before long we'll see the first of the trees to burst into bloom when Saskatoon berries begin their passage from small white floral blossoms covering the trees into delicious, Vitamin-C-loaded berries that the U.S. has renamed Juneberries and which Canada has commercialized as a seasonal, nutritious berry available to consumers.