We’ve all heard how important it is to eat a diet high in roughage. Likewise, “roughaging” (spending time outdoors) is essential to our mental health. Even if it’s a settee on the porch, we need it, gotta have it. I aim to be the reason you pulled your bedding out the back door last night.
Winnie Nielsen says: I love these hens that are so big and copper colored. They just look like the perfect Farmgirl chicken to me.
Bonnie Ellis says: She is lovely. I love chickens. Thanks for posting a picture of her.
Need a little inspiration to get moving today, chase your dreams, touch the sun?
Photo by Sander van der Wel via Wikimedia Commons
Well, I’m always here to tell you that anything is possible. This backcountry maiden turned MaryJanesFarm maven knows what she’s talkin’ about, sister.
But, if you won’t take my word for it, take the tweet of a simple songbird instead …
Photo by William H. Majoros via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the blackpoll warbler.
This unassuming pipsqueak, small enough to perch on your hand, is an unsung marvel.
Photo by PJTurgeon via Wikimedia
On wings measuring no more than 9″ from tip to tip, the blackpoll warbler flies over 1,500 miles in about three days. Fifteen HUNDRED miles. Three DAYS. You do the math. And, did I mention that most of those miles are flown over OPEN OCEAN???
Photo by Yinan Chen via Wikimedia Commons
Yeah.
Makes getting out of bed on a tough day seem an itsy bit easier, dontcha know?
The widely wandering warbler’s mind-boggling migration was something of a myth among scientists until recently. They knew that these birds made a l-o-n-g trip from northeastern Canada, across the Atlantic, to wintering grounds in South America. But they couldn’t quite believe that the epic voyage occurred in fast forward, nonstop, until a study by researcher Dr. Bill DeLuca from the University of Massachusetts Amherst said it was so.
“For small songbirds, we are only just now beginning to understand the migratory routes that connect temperate breeding grounds to tropical wintering areas,” DeLuca explained. “We’re really excited to report that this is one of the longest nonstop overwater flights ever recorded for a songbird and finally confirms what has long been believed to be one of the most extraordinary migratory feats on the planet.”
The moral of this story?
If the blackpoll warbler can span the sea with a flutter of feathers, you can do anything you set your mind to.
ANYTHING.
Keep your chin up, spread those wings, and make it happen.
Nike Victory statue, Tony Smith via Flickr.com
maria lawrence says: Thank you for the encouragement! I needed this today!
Cindi says: What a beautiful little bird. What an astounding little bird! Migration is an amazing event in its own right, but to have such speed… I wonder how long before scientific study of these pretty creatures will discover their secret and apply it to our own air travel. I’m being silly, of course!
How very inspiring! guess my exercise program needed a little push today!
Sheena says: Simply…. Thank You!
Thanks MaryJane – this is was perfect for me today. And every day actually. Hugs – Dori, your Ranch Farmgirl – 🙂
If you have a child or grandkid who will be in fourth grade next year, you might want to plan your 2016 vacation around the “Every Kid in a Park” initiative.
Photo by OakleyOriginals via Wikimedia Commons
Here’s the skinny:
President Obama’s forthcoming Every Kid in a Park initiative will give fourth graders and their families free admission to all U.S. national parks and other federal lands for a whole year.
That’s a pretty sweet deal, but it begs the question … why fourth graders?
Photo of Junior Rangers Kid’s Kamp by Albert Herring via Wikimedia Commons
A White House official told ABC News, “The National Park Service and other land and water agencies already have fourth grade programming in place in many locations. Many states focus on state history during the fourth grade, which aligns well with what NPS and other land managers have to offer.”
Photo Erica Szlosek, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, via Wikimedia Commons
“Thanks to our public-private partnerships, we are able to open up a world of experiential learning in our nation’s largest classrooms—our national parks,” says Dan Wenk, president of the National Park Foundation. “Every Kid in a Park will enhance this important work and will give many youth and their families the opportunity to explore our national parks for the first time.”
Photo by Steve Hillebrand, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, via Wikimedia Commons
Through the initiative, which is just one component of a celebratory preparation for the 100th birthday of the National Park Service next year, the White House will help families plan trips to nearby parks and provide educational materials, field trip guides, science labs, and transportation support, in the form of grants, to schools with the most need.”
If you pledge your support the Every Kid in a Park initiative here, you’ll be able to download a free copy of the National Park Service, Parks for Play: 35 National Park Adventures for Kids of All Ages.
Winnie Nielsen says: What a terrific opportunity! I hope many families learn about this and take advantage of planning a trip. What a wonderful Summer vacation possibility as there are national parks within reasonable driving distance for most states.
bonnie ellis says: That’s great. We have lots of programs for kids in our state parks. They are accessable to everyone. We only have one national park here in Minnesota.
Winnie Nielsen says: Nothing is more beautiful that lots of daffodils blooming together. I miss that they won’t grow down here.
Perfect for a bouquet on your Farmgirl table 100!
Cindi says: These are so, so pretty. I will have to make another attempt to get bulbs in this year. Learned the hard way that it does matter where you purchase from, though it was a happy surprise to get ONE flower this year ~ from a sole surviving crocus planted two seasons ago.
Heather (nndairy) says: What beautiful flowers! I like the white ones with yellow centers. Mine are just starting to pop out of the ground, but I do have some pretty purple crocuses blooming right now 🙂
MaryJane says: I just came in with a huge bouquet of daffodils and some crocus. I even put a bouquet in my milking parlor. Isn’t the crocus fragrance amazing?
bonnie ellis says: Daffodils make Minnesotans jealous at this time of year when we are usually still in frozen ground and expecting snow. I saw some in the store today when I was buying mums. Next time I will buy them. Our crocus managed to come up and bloom with the tiniest flowers I have ever seen. Flowers are always wonderful no matter what time of the year. Thanks Mary Jane.
Nancy Coughlin says: I keep trying to plant bulbs all around here, but all I seem to be doing is providing squirrels with tasty snacks. In fact, when I am planting, I get the distinct impression I’m being observed from the trees. Can just imagine the squirrels making up maps for one another, with the exact placement of each bulb! I will keep on trying, despite their best efforts!
Winnie Nielsen says: Spring is on it’s way at 1000 Wild Iris Lane!!
MaryJane says: Good morning Miss Winnie!
Winnie Nielsen says: Good afternoon, MaryJane! I started Jubilee Trail and it is quite good. I must admit that I know very little about our country in the 1844 era. I’m loving this story!
MaryJane says: I started it also and then realized I’d read it years ago. Would make a great movie.
Winnie Nielsen says: I forgot to tell you Happy Mothering Sunday! I just left a post on our Chatroom about it if you have time to read.
Cindi says: Pretty flowers waking up to a good spring morning! I haven’t seen many spring bulbs unfurling their pretty heads, though I know they are out there blooming away. They have to be ~ my lupine is already 8″ tall and self-sown sunflowers are popping their first leaves out of the soil already. Early springs are so much fun!
Denise says: Just got over our last snowfall. The daffodils and hyacinths are popping up. Can’t wait for them to bloom!
Winnie Nielsen says: The new green of Spring is one of my favorite colors. It is bright, fresh, and a happy reminder of beautiful weather and a change in the pace of everyday life.
Winnie Nielsen says: This is a lovely early spring photo with the new green and the old red of the barns. I can almost smell the fresh cool air!
Cindi says: Hope there’s a fire going in the wood stove and a pot of coffee on because that’s a view I’d like to take in by bundling up and sitting on the back porch for a spell. Morning meditation 🙂
MaryJane says: Coffee and the smell of wood smoke. Divine.
Winter is certainly blustering its way around the country lately, leaving its mark in some surprising places (snow in Jackson, Mississippi??) and refusing to succumb to spring’s advances just yet.
Photo by Peter Eimon via Flickr.com
But that makes today the perfect day to share a tidbit of literary wonder called “The Snowdrop” by Hans Christian Andersen. This classic little tale chronicles the emergence of a brave flower that simply cannot wait for spring.
It was wintertime; the air was cold, the wind sharp, but indoors all was snug and well. Indoors lay the flower; it lay in its bulb, under earth and snow.
Photo by Emmanuel Boutet via Wikimedia Commons
One day, though, a slender sunbeam reaches down to the bulb and taps on it. Anxiously, the snowdrop implores the sun to help her break free from the bulb so that she may stretch and grow. But the sun is not yet strong enough. Wait, he tells her. He will be very strong by summer.
Photo by Amanda Slater via Flickr.com
“How long this lasts! How long this lasts!” said the Flower. “I feel a tingling and tickling. I must stretch myself; I must extend myself. I must open up; I must come out and wave good morning to the summer; that will be a wonderful time!”
Déjà vu? I’m sure I just heard you say that yesterday.
And the Flower stretched itself and extended itself against the thin shell that had been softened by the rain water, warmed by the blanket of earth and snow, and tapped upon by the Sunbeam. It burst forth beneath the snow, with a white and green bud on its green stalk, with narrow, thick leaves, curled around it as if for protection. The snow was cold, but light radiated down into it, making it quite easy to break through; and here now the Sunbeam streamed down with greater strength than before.
“Beautiful flower!” sang all the Sunbeams. “How fresh and pure you are! You are the first; you are the only one! You are our love! You ring out the call of summer, lovely summer, over town and country! All the snow shall melt, the cold winds be driven away! We shall reign! Everything shall grow green! And then you shall have company, the lilacs and laburnums and finally the roses. But you are the first, so tender and pure!”
Photo by Jonas Bergsten via Wikimedia Commons
But summertime was far off; clouds shrouded the sun; sharp winds blew. It was weather to freeze such a delicate little flower to bits. But there was more strength in her than even she realized. That strength was in her happy faith that summer must come, and this had been imparted by her own deep desire and confirmed by the warm sunlight. And so with patient hope she stood there in her white dress, in the white snow, bowing her head when the snowflakes fell thick and heavy or while the icy winds swept over her.
And if the snowdrop can hold her own until spring, we can, too. Have you seen your first 2015 snowdrop yet?
Photo by Ian Kirk via Wikimedia Commons
While wandering around the Internet in search of snowdrop lore, I happened upon this charming video by the folks at BBC that whimsically spins the snowdrop’s story for all ages to enjoy. Share, share, share …
Winnie Nielsen says: I love this story by Hans Christian Anderson about the Snowdrop. How did I miss this as a child when we read so many of his other stories? It is an amazing feat of nature. I remember clearly the purple, yellow and white crocuses in our front yard sort of doing the same thing. They would get snowed on and still open and bloom. We always looked forward to their arrival, in Virginia, because no matter what else Winter had in store, Spring was on the winning side! Spring is truly a season marked by determination and grit. No matter what curve balls Winter insists on throwing, we always arrive at grass turning green, daffodils and tulips blooming and sunny days without wool layers.
Ah snowdrops the true harbingers of spring. I had some wonderful antique ones at my previous house but alas couldn’t find those tiny bulbs to dig up when I moved. I didn’t find any here at my farmette, but later I will have the supreme pleasure of a carpet of yellow daffodils deep in the woods that I can just barely see form the edge. They are so deep inside that you can’t even walk there. I suppose many years back you could.
Thanks for bringing one of my favorite fairly tales to light. I just had a fruitless search looking for it in my library. I think it was in one of the beautifully illustrated antique children’s books I sold when I needed money. People buy them for the prints that they ( shudder) cut out and frame.
Cindi says: They what Lisa?!! Cut out the pictures of antique books to frame?! My antique book is staying in the family album I made then, never to show to anyone who would do such a thing.
What a lovely story of hope, strength and determination. Oh how I love Hans Christian Anderson. I don’t know why the full collection of his stories that I had as a child is not on my bookshelf… the Shirley Temple book is there. Hmmm. Now I must make a trip to the bookstore, or antique store maybe, to find a copy. The grandchildren are voracious readers but I’ll bet they have not read Hans Christian Anderson. I must remedy that!
Ah, and speaking of spring… there is a Killdeer outside already searching for a companion! We are close.
Sadly, Karlyne the antique business does a lot of cutting of old books, especially ones of botanical drawings. And all the old Audubon books are usually not complete anymore. I didn’t knowingly sell to a ” cutter” but to a dedicated collector , so my books were saved from that fate at least.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
I learned something about geese this past week while watching a pair ~ and over the last year as well, I suppose. They are very smart! Anyone who has gotten too close at the wrong time knows they are bold and defiant, but I also learned that they grow REALLY fast! Egg incubation is quite short and once those little guys hatch, they go from little golden fuzzy balls to the size of an adult man’s hand in 2 or 3 days! Born with a bravery worthy of a seasoned soldier, or lack of any sense whatsoever, I’m not sure which, they will leap from a 90 foot high nest into a wingless plunge to the ground, bounce once or twice, shake it off and run to catch up with mom who leads them to water. I think ducks do the same. Makes me feel like we humans are not so superior after all!
It’s true, human babies are helpless for quite a while. Old man Emil, who mentored me, used to complain about that. He’d jokingly say things like, “Take a newborn baby and throw it in the creek; if it paddles, even a little bit, pull it out; if not, let it go on down.”
Oh my!!!!! LOL! High expectations there!
He always had a playful, come-on-call-me-out glimmer in his eye when he said things like that.
These beauties don’t often come this far South. They are present over in Tallahassee , in the Florida panhandle, but I never see them here. I have always loved their statuesque profile. Does it count that I have a wooden one made specifically for me by a work colleague? It has reigned in my family room for 30 years!
what a great shot
They are beautiful. However they have created a nuisance here because they poop on the walkways and with so many of them it is quite hazardous. Too much of a good thing.