Spring, Three Months of Change

Spring in the woods seems to be a bigger transition than autumn. In autumn our activities focus on dealing with the masses of leaves that fall in the yard. The woods change in appearance, but the change is slow, over a period of time beginning in late August. Spring seems to happen all at once. I have my deadline for being done with firewood cutting the first of May and March and April seem to be a rush.

I finished the cutting season with two large red oaks. This tree had fallen several years ago near the point, the area where I cut so much firewood the previous year. This photo was taken March 18 after I had cut the tree and was in the middle of splitting. Most of the large rounds after being cut rolled down a slope so not much is visible in the picture.

This is a better view of some of the split wood. This is looking north toward our garden and house. This tree was about 2 feet in diameter at chest height before it toppled over.

Cutting firewood is probably the easiest part. Splitting takes twice as long, maybe longer, than cutting. Carrying and stacking firewood can take longest. One stack is almost finished, another was made at right angle. This light snow happened while I was stacking firewood.

This is an old road in the hollow to the east of our home. Molly and I were out hunting morels. Didn’t find any, there seem to be less now than in the days of the Great Morel Hunt. This photo was taken on April 14 and trees were starting to show green.

This photo shows the trees starting to leaf out.

Molly looking awfully small walking up from the hollow after our search for morels. The gully is an old road that has eroded. A 1911 map shows a dwelling was in the hollow below near this spot.

This photo was taken April 22 from the hollow to the west of our home. The photo shows a little more green in the trees. The picture was taken looking east and our home is on the top of the ridge.

Cancer root appears in early spring.

This photo was taken May 13 in the same hollow to the east of our home. This is near where I found the spots where deer had bedded in the snow last winter.

The woods are becoming so dense with green leaves that the sun forms bright splashes of light where it hits the trees.

A mystery plant with beautiful flowers I have yet to identify. This photo was taken May 21.

Blue eyed grass. We have some growing in your yard and it can be found in the woods.

The Rocks road on May 21. This is just a little further down the road from the trail I created up to the knoll shown in the photo in the previous post.

Just past the Rocks there are two wood piles covered with blue tarps. Each pile is about a month’s worth of wood for heating.

This photo was taken June 11 looking north from a road that passes our home. Four buildings can barely be seen. The shack is in the center. The large shed is to the right (the roof is visible) with the shop almost completely hidden above. Our home is almost completely hidden also, to the left. The northwest corner of the screen porch is most plain on the left edge of the photo.

July 24, 2022