MARCH MANIA

Although we still have a ton (yep, a ton) of snow here, the light has changed; the shadows are longer and the days are creeping toward more daylight. .. subtle but true.

However, in the early stages of Spring, we have windy days, rainy days, snow days and sunny days and it can change from hour to hour... hence the mania..

... it is Spring and Winter shouts, "No it's not... I am not finished yet.!!"

BUT DID YOU KNOW?

The last day of March is about an hour and a half longer than the first;

this is the greatest increase of daylight in any month.

Squirrel and little birds feet looking for their seeds under yet another snowfall.

LIGHTS OUT PLEASE...

BABY BUNNIES...

The Easter Bunny has a long history,

first appearing at least fifteen hundred years ago

as the healthy representative

of the Saxon fertility goddess" Eastre".

Every spring, wildlife rehabbers are flooded

with baby animals

that DID NOT

need rescuing.

If you find a baby bunny alone in your yard, you may think it was orphaned so you scoop it up, put it in a wee box wrapped in a towel and take it to your vet.

But instead, you just kidnapped it.

THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENS.

Eastern cottontail mothers visit their nest only TWICE a day… once in early morning… dawn.. and once at dusk… for just a few minutes each.

…. the babies are then left alone - ON PURPOSE because the mother’s scent attracts predators so by leaving them alone, she is protecting them.

Those wee babies are not abandoned, they are being strategically left alone for their survival.

Rabbits are not alone in this:

FAWNS: a doe leaves her fawn alone for 4-8 hours… if it is lying still, it is not injured but hiding as nature intended

BABY BIRDS: babies on the ground with short tails and scruffy feathers are SUPPOSED to be there… they leave the nest a few days before they can fly.

Parents feed them on the ground… they have not “fallen”, they have “graduated”…

SADLY: the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Assoc. estimates more than 50% of baby animals brought in DO NOT need human intervention and DIE from the stress of capture and transport.

HERE’S THE RULE: - unless the baby is visibly injured, bleeding, covered in flies or a known-dead parent is nearby… LEAVE IT ALONE.

…. the mother IS coming back.

Watch from a distance for 12- 24 hours

Rescue without knowledge is the most common ways humans kill baby wildlife.

(from “Kindness for All Living Beings”

DID YOU KNOW?

TREES...

"The best friend on earth of man is the tree:

when we use the tree respectfully

and economically

we have one of the

greatest resources of the earth".

Frank Lloyd Wright

THINKING ABOUT TREES...

Early March is a good time to start pruning some trees and shrubs and this got me thinking about trees in general: how we use them and how we treat them.

In her book, “Braiding Sweetgrass”, Robin Wall Kimmerer reminds us to think about trees on a daily basis… “ a sheet of paper is a tree’s life, along with the water and the energy and toxic by-products that went into making it”...

… “the short path from mailbox to waste bin tells the story. But what would happen….. to the mountain of junk mail if we could see in it the trees it once had been.?

“Sometimes I have that same sense when I face a blank sheet of paper. For me, writing is an act of reciprocity with the world…. it’s what I can give back in return for everyone that has been given to me.

And now there is another layer of responsibility… writing on a sheet of tree and hoping the words are worth it. Such a thought could make a person set down her pen.”

…Robin goes on to say….

“What would it be like, I wondered, to live with that heightened sensibility to the lives given for ours?

To consider the tree in the Kleenex, the algae in toothpaste, the oaks in the floor, the grapes in the vine; to follow back the thread of life in everything and pay it respect? … the willow bark in aspirin

Once you start, it’s hard to stop and you begin to feel yourself awash in gifts.”

“Responsibility to the tree makes everyone pause before beginning…. “

Which brings us back to PRUNING….

DON'T PRUNE THESE NOW...

Birch, Maple, Walnut, Willow

Spruce or Fir

Oak: not between March and October…. to prevent Oak wilt

Flowering shrubs: Forsythia, Rhododendron, Magnolia, Big leaf Hydrangea (they bloom on last year’s wood)

Newly planted trees (prune next season)

Cedar - WAIT till after birds have fledged

Lace Cap Hydrangea- Photo by Ron Sheldrick

DO PRUNE THESE NOW...

Apple and other fruit

Alas...

as I write this, I cannot reach

our apple trees on the boulevard

So, I'll wait a few more days

because the wee buds are reddening...

If you can reach them, prune these now.

Hydrangea trees

Honeysuckle

Annabelle Hydrangea (cut stems at different heights for blooms all over

Annabelle Hydrangea - Photo: Better Homes

When pruning Annabelle Hydrangeas, cut the stems at different heights for blooms all over the plant.

If the bush is up against a wall, prune stems at the front, shorter and graduate the stem heights toward the back.

.. the front stems with blooms will hold up those toward the back.

THE 4 D'S in PRUNING...

DEAD

DISEASED

DYING

DAMAGED

Trees need light, air and water to thrive and stay healthy

PRUNE INTENTIONALLY...

Pruning is stressful for any tree or plant.

Don't remove too much at any one time... give it time to recover... a few weeks

Start at the top and work down... one branch at a time

Use hand pruners (except for Cedar hedges)

SEE MORE HERE:

pruning-trees-and-shrubs.html

and, if you cannot prune yet.... pour a cuppa and read this...

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH...

Lucy is playing Happy Birthday to me.

... She doesn't sing the words though.

HOW OLD AM I?

Apparently, the secret,

according to Richard Overton who lived till he was 112;

is

"yard work, whisky, an aspirin a day,

and staying out of trouble.”

I can do the yard work and the whisky

but staying out of trouble?

not a chance.

UNTIL NEXT TIME...

I follow the wisdom of a beautiful woman author, Alexandra Stoddard whose words are always timely.

"In the month of March, dwell on the beauty of our human life. Seek out opportunities to share your bounty and beauty near and far.

Emerson understood,

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it within us or we find it not."

Life in March weather is "savage and serene in one hour," he mused...

Look for the good, see the beauty, live in this precious, fleeting beautiful moment.

This is IT...

LUCY SAYS...

Watch lots of doggy-videos and laugh out loud.

( I don’t laugh in case some of them are cuter than I am)

Then be sure to spend some time,

standing on one of your “sparents”

to get a different view on life.

(and see if there are treats nearby)

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