Today we had a blast of April showers 2 weeks early. The snow was mostly gone anyway but today made serious dents in the piles along the road and along the orchard edges where the pines and hemlocks shade the ground.

I love the quote from someone — Thich Nhat Hanh maybe — “The miracle is not walking on water. The miracle is walking on land.” Well, land-earth-dirt is certainly a miracle. But water, wow! You can jump into it. You can drink it. You can even walk on it in the winter time. I love thinking about water in all its various incarnations.

Apple seedlings on the window sill, March 2026

Spring 2025 it rained every weekend for ten in a row. I heard so many complaints. Meanwhile the plants were soaking it up. Then we had ten weeks (or was it 20) with no rain at all. Despite the drought, the orchard trees grew so well last summer. Hmmm. Welcome back, rain.

The apple seedlings are all on the window sill in their well-worn “tofu-tubs.” A few radicles are poking their tips up through the surface of the soil.