Spring on the farm! Our first spring here in the Blue Ridge Mountains was so exciting. I couldn’t wait to watch the trees, flowers and shrubs come alive. Nearly every day I was taking pictures and documenting in my notebook the changes. (Therefore I have more pictures of spring than any other season but I’ll spare you and not post them all. :)) Watching the daily changes is so rewarding and makes me feel alive too. I can’t get enough of walking around watching the blueberries put out tiny buds, new ones each day and older ones getting bigger or seeing the grapes unfurl their leaves starting out tiny and ending up the size of a dinner plate. And everyone loves seeing the first green tips of a daffodil or crocus bulb poke up through the ground to become a beautiful early spring flower a couple of weeks later. I loved documenting everything our first year so I’d know in future years how long everything took to bloom or when to expect which flowers/ plants/ fruit trees to bloom.
Check out this post on garden journaling & notebooking!
Blueberry Bushes Budding
I had no idea blueberry bushes were so beautiful in the spring. They would catch my eye as I walked by–beautiful blush and rose colored tiny buds at the end of every twig. Thousands of them all over one bush. It’s miraculous watching them turn into leaves and blueberries. The smaller, oval buds on the branches turn into leaves and the larger, rounder buds turn into flowers and then blueberries. Get a bush and watch it yourself! You’ll be amazed! (First 4 pictures are February 27. The other 2 are April 12.)
Bulbs Blooming
It’s also exciting to watch the little green shoots come up out of the ground of the bulbs you planted in the fall. The crocuses are my favorite. They came up from February 21 to March 6 and bloomed for about 2 weeks. The daffodils came up the beginning of march and bloomed the whole month. I happened to see packages of daffodils and tulips at Lowes 90% off in December so I grabbed them. We planted them and they still came up 2.5 months later. Bulbs are so cheap compared to potted plants, even when they’re not on sale. I want to add some every fall. For some reason they help me claim ownership of our house. That they like me enough to come back year after year. And we’re not going anywhere either.
Cherries, Azaleas, Grapes, Figs, Kiwi and the Hillsides Blooming
The first 3 pictures are of the cherry tree: with tiny pink buds about to open into cherry blossoms, the pretty pink cherry blossoms, the blossoms having turned into tiny green cherries. The next 3 pictures are of the flame azalea bush: just budding, starting to flower, and in full flowering glory. Then there are 2 pictures of the grape leaves unfurling. One picture of tiny fig leaves growing (they get huge in summer!), and one picture of little kiwi fruit starting to grow on a kiwi vine. The last 3 pictures are of the hills around here: the hill going up from the barn, the view from Blueberry Hill, and one of my pastures the neighbor keeps his cows on. I have many more pictures I could post about the asparagus coming up, the dogwood flowering, and all the other spring beauties on our farm, but you’ve probably had enough. Spring is beautiful everywhere!
