The First Day of March

 

My friend offered to drop off some food that she had been given but couldn’t use.  I gratefully accepted but didn’t want her to have to negotiate our difficult driveway and turn around spot.  We agreed that once she was setting off she would call me and I would go out to meet her at the road.

Today is sunny and the temperature is hovering around freezing. It is a gentle day with little wind.  And, it is the first day of March.  It is the kind of day when I believe that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of winter.  I have tried to appreciate each day of winter for what it is and there have been times when I was content with the dark cloudy days and early nights.  But, now it is March.

As I headed out to the road, I noticed tracks in the snow going from our driveway into the park next door.  They had a the kind of tire tread look of  porcupine tracks but they weren’t wide enough.  They probably were made by the groundhog that lives under our shed, I reasoned, out for an amble in the park.  There is still lots of snow but it is collapsing with the warm temperatures.

As I stood on the sidewalk waiting for my friend I gazed at the structure of our Community Garden.  The volunteers had our first zoom meeting this week and the enthusiasm is high.  Lots of ideas were shared and quickly turned into concrete plans for a Seed Swap, Plant Starting Activity for kids at the local library and the Planting Party in May.  As I stood by the garden today, it occurred to me that I should take down the red bows that we put up in December for Christmas.  I should take down the red hearts that I put up for Valentine’s Day.  The snow groundhog that we made has already melted and returned to the snowpack.  The solar coloured lights can probably stay up for a little bit longer.  We kept the garden seasonally decorated during the winter so that it still felt present to the community.

In another month, the snow will likely be gone and our group can meet outside to continue our dreaming and planning.  Earth Day is on a Saturday this year so we plan to have a Digging Day to turn over the manure, compost and straw that was piled on top of the soil in October.  Digging in the Earth for Earth Day seems like a perfect activity.

I have already started some seeds that are slow growers.  I check on the delicate little plants each morning as a gentle entry into gardening season. Other members have plans to start Kale, Pumpkin, Beans and Squash when we get closer to May.  It’s like we are stretching our gardening muscles as we come out of a kind of hibernation.

We got a bit of Maple sap from a few trees two weeks ago when we had a warm spell. I drank a bit of it each day as a spring tonic until it was gone. Soon we will tap the other three trees and make maple syrup once the sap starts to flow again.

Although it could still snow and it will, there is a kind of relief from making it through another winter that seems to come from an ancestral sort of memory.  I was under no threat from cold or starvation and yet I feel grateful to have made it through.

I stood and let the sun shine on my face as I waited for my friend.  It felt good.  I felt at peace as I waited.  I felt grateful for the wonderful experiences we had at the community garden last year and I felt excited about all that we can create together in this coming year. I felt content in that moment.  My friend arrived and we stood and talked for a while.  I thanked her for the food that she was sharing.  This is what we do at the Community Garden, we grow and share food.  This feels ancestral to me, the sharing of food, looking out for one another and nurturing community.  While we seem to be hurtling into an uncertain future I also feel deeply connected to Earth and to the ancestral resiliency that is within me.  And from these places, creativity and new life grow and thrive.  This is what came to me as I stood on the sidewalk waiting, on this, the first day of March.