The fruit trees (apples, plums, cherry) are done flowering now, and we enjoyed the last of the lilacs last week. The lilacs got pummeled during heavy rains so I brought in a vase of the drooping, soggy flowers to appreciate inside. In addition to the traditional lighter colored lilacs growing here, we admired flowers from a deeper purple variety this year that Jeff had planted, and they were beautiful too. But more importantly (to me) than how beautiful the lilacs are- the smell! I love the subtle, sweet fragrance of lilacs, and look forward to it every spring. For some reason I always hesitate to bring any of the lilacs inside, wanting to enjoy their beauty in the garden for as long as possible, but when the rain starts knocking the flowers over I suddenly give myself permission. Do any of you do that?

The other thing happening around the yard right now (besides Jeff planting lots of seeds, transplanting seedlings, and weeding beds), is hauling wood chips. If you see a truck along the side of the the road near your home that is clearing tree debris and chipping up wood- don’t be shy about asking for chips! That’s how we got a load of wood chips delivered to our house. Many times the trucks need somewhere nearby to dump the chips and sometimes they end up with a long list of people asking for them. We’ve been on the waiting list before, but if you ask soon enough you might luck out. Anyway, it doesn’t hurt to ask.

I thought my forearms were getting strong over the winter from hauling so much firewood, but it turns out that shoveling chips to fill up the wheelbarrow uses much more upper body strength. I’ve been sore, the kind of sore that feels good after hard work. We have a lot of pathways around here that can turn into mud puddles during our rainy winters, so we’ve been spreading wood chips along pathways. We can also use them to keep weeds down, and as mulch around the garden. We’ve been very grateful for those wood chips!

P.S. Jeff’s most recent kale harvest.