In Search Of Spring?

Bees, Frogs, Mom, Pond, Reflections, spring, The Farm, Warre' Hive, Weather, ,

The calendar says that Spring has arrived, yet nature seems to be telling a different story. Even though we have been seeing Red Wing Black Birds for several weeks and my husband spotted the first Robin of the season about a week ago, the temperatures have mostly been below what is normal for this time of year in Michigan. I can’t help but wonder if the birds regret their early return.

Spring is my favorite season of the year so I went looking for the signs of Spring. Come along, I’ll show you what I found.

Even though we have had some very sunny days, some of the snow has yet to melt               in areas that are mostly shady.

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The last of the ice melted from the pond on Sunday, March 18. It reached 50+ degrees Fahrenheit (10 Celsius) that day but the temperatures have been nowhere near that since. IMG_3813

Today the temperature was around 40 Fahrenheit (about 4 Celsius) when we were at the farm; with the wind out of the North it felt much colder. Trooper didn’t mind stepping in the pond for a cold drink, but while I long to walk barefoot on the sand and dip my toes in the water, today I opted to keep on my wool socks and rubber boots.

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A pair of ducks have also been enjoying the pond for the last two days. They may be looking for a place to build a nest and raise their young, but I am afraid that our pond would be much too busy for that. I am fairly certain that Scout and Trooper will make it clear that they are not welcome here. There are, however, plenty of neighboring ponds that will suit them just fine.

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The daffodils have poked their heads up but seem to be in no hurry to expose their entire bodies to the cold temps. Who can blame them?

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The bees have had several days over the winter when they were able to come out for a cleansing flight. It was during a brief warm spell in February that we discovered that four of our five hives were dead. 80% loss is the biggest winter loss we have experienced to date. The sole survivor was our Warre’ hive.

Even though the sun was out today the bees were not.

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The sap flow has been intermittent. It flows (or should I say drips) on the warmer, sunny days, but many of the days have been just too cold for the sap to flow. While we can see the buds on the trees getting bigger they are not yet ready to open.

We will continue collecting sap and making syrup as long as the weather permits.

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To me the most encouraging sign of spring was hearing the frogs singing. My husband  told me that he heard them for the first time yesterday. We didn’t hear them in the pond area but in this swampy area near the back of our farm.

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I remember My Mom telling me that the frogs have to freeze three times before Spring is here to stay.  I am not really sure how that works. How long does the temperature have to be below freezing for a frog to “freeze”? Is it just when the temperature falls below freezing over night? or does it take a day or more of freezing temperatures? Has anyone ever heard this before? None-the-less I am always happy to hear the frogs singing, and I take this as a sure sign that spring is near.

Are you anxiously awaiting Spring? What do signs do you look for to know that Spring is near?

26 thoughts on “In Search Of Spring?”

    1. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. After talking to some other bee keepers who lost all of their hives we realized we did good to still have one hive that made it. It was a rough winter for bee keepers in our area.
      Thanks for visiting and your comment.

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    1. Thanks. I’m really not much of a photographer but I really wanted to show how the snow was all melted in the sunny areas but the areas that didn’t get much sunshine still had snow cover.

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  4. Spring will arrive when it’s ready. Unfortunately nature does not follow the calendar. On the other hand it’s been a classic winter rather than a warm and wet one. This is good for the soil and for controlling garden pests. I do however hope it’s not affected wildlife too much.

    It does bode well for a good spring and summer, so the wait for spring to arrive may have its benefits.

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    1. I think we just got used to having the warm wet ones in the last few years. We have noticed that the slower thaw freeze cycle seems to be better for the ground things are drying up instead of just turning to muck.
      I sure hope you are right about a good spring and summer.
      Thanks for reading and your comment.

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  6. Pingback: *Press it* In Search Of Spring? #25 | Its good to be crazy Sometimes

  7. Hi, found your blog over at the weekend share and just wanted to say hello. So sorry you lost so many hives. In North Norgolk UK spring is arriving so I am fine for now. Have a lovely weekend!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Yes, this beekeeping thing is quite a challenge as there are so many unknown variables to consider. It’s sad and frustrating but we are going to keep at it.
      It’s good to know that spring is showing up somewhere. 🙂

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  8. It has been a particularly long and hard winter here in Ireland also, with more snow forecast for the end of the month. However, our daffodils have appeared and are blooming – they cleverly tucked themselves up last week during the snow and reappeared when it had thawed! Our robins are more sociable than usual hoping for some food to be put out, and water…We had sunshine yesterday for a few hours and then the rain inevitably came and only departed an hour ago..I love Spring, but it’s been hard earned this year.

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    1. Yes winter seems to be dragging out longer this year than in recent years. I’m sorry to hear that you are expecting more snow. Just because we don’t have any in our immediate forecast, I know that it is a very real possibility that we could get snow even into April.
      I think daffodils are the perfect spring flower. Their bright yellow color always makes me smile 🙂
      Thanks for stopping by.

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  9. I am itching for spring to arrive, but it’s been slow in coming. We still have a good inch or two of snow on the ground in most areas of our property, and the weatherman is calling for 5-10 cm of the stuff for Monday. 😩 I planted some crocus and daffodil bulbs last fall, and I’m anxiously waiting for them to poke there heads out of the ground, but it might be another couple of weeks yet. The most exciting part, though, is that we finally see a little corner of our garden starting to peek through the snow. I really can’t wait to get my hands dirty in their this spring!

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    1. We are supposed to get rain next week but at least we can be thankful it’s not snow. We are anxiously waiting to get into the dirt as well, especially sine our mail order strawberry plants arrived Tuesday. 100 of them. Since the ground won’t be ready for quite a while yet my husband put them in some planter boxes and our living room is now a temporary nursery for them.

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