Early to mid May is when spring finally comes to Vermont, and while most years I can’t wait to get through the April showers to see some May flowers, this year I was glad for the extra downtime before spring planting begins.
It’s been quite a busy year over here, with building a new house, and the seemingly endless stream of decisions that entails.
Most the time I just throw wildflower seeds and wait to see what comes up, no decisions there. The seeds themselves contain the color, just waiting to bloom.
But now, here I am, looking at tile color, trim color, door colors and too many other colors wondering if I can just flip a coin. I could, but the coin is a lot less skilled at choosing a color than a seed.
We’re in the home stretch with the last cabinets, colors and details going in before completion. I can’t wait to share it with you all over when the last bits are in place.
For now though, here’s a peek into what early May in Vermont has to offer:
The first Wednesday in May is “Trout Day” at our local feed store where the locals line up and wait for bags from the trout truck to stock their ponds. It’s a wet climate here, and if you’ve got more than a few acres, chances are you’ve got a pond somewhere. These little beauties are surface feeders, and within minutes of release they’re already striking the surface every few seconds turning mosquitos into the rapid growth that will fill our freezer later this summer.
When my kids were toddlers I conscripted them gathering dandelions in the spring, mostly to get their little selves running about the yard looking at flowers, bees and salamanders while they filled their easter baskets with sunny blossoms. It kept their hands busy and got their creative brains working, trying to figure out what we could make with our harvest. Dandelions are edible, you see, and the blossoms give a honey like flavor to treats. When my little ones tasted our first dandelion creations they were hooked, so now every year we make something new to keep the tradition going. Last year’s dandelion pie (requested by my son) took a lot of imagination to pull off, but it came out wonderfully. Kind of like coconut cream pie, but with dandelion petals. What should we make this year?
Flower jellies are so much fun to make, and they’re a great excuse to scour the yard each spring for edible flowers. Sure, edible flowers are great to garnish a salad, but they’re also darn pretty in a jar and they keep all year this way. So when I need to remember that spring will come again on a dank January day, I know I have these waiting in my canning pantry.
We had a huge flush of chickweed this spring, and we use it for salve, pesto and salad greens…but it just keeps coming. My daughter harvested this basket to share with her baby geese and I thought his little bed of greens was so cute I had to take a picture. Our cat thought had thoughts about the matter as well (top left).
Dryad’s saddle is a fun easy to identify spring mushroom that comes back year after year in the same spot. It’s a decomposer, and once a log starts producing it’ll keep giving until it’s gone. I’ve been harvesting from this log for some time now, and it has probably a decade of spring treats to give still before it fully returns to the earth.
Canned asparagus has a special place in my heart, and I know, that’s a strange one to be sure. Let me explain…growing up, I’d never had fresh Asparagus, nor even seen it in person. When we had veggies, they were the cheap canned ones, and almost always canned corn because it was the cheapest. My mom was trying to stretch every penny, and she’d send us each into the grocery store one at a time to buy whole chicken to preserve when they were on sale (limit 6 per customer, but a 6 year old counts as a customer, right?). Canned asparagus was my favorite, but it cost a lot more than corn. I’d literally ask for it for my birthday, and my mom would splurge on a few cans. These days, we grow so much of our food that my kids will never know that it looks like to treasure canned asparagus as a treat, and they stroll through the garden pulling off spears to snack on (and lets be real, have sword fights with) as they play each spring. I still can it though, because nothing tastes as good as a memory.
What are you working on, harvesting, or just plain excited about this spring? Leave me a note in the comments!
What a whopper of a beautiful Magazine article!!! Loved it, Ashley. I, too, along with my wife, are in building mode. Good luck! Make sure to check out the newer homesteading technology where critical, such as a water supply auto-shutoff if a leak occurs. You may be able to get an insurance reduction for that item. Also the leak detector which Triggers the former. Check out our favorite new stuff from Aquor for what are called hose bibs / water faucets on exterior of your foundation..
What a whopper of a beautiful Magazine article!!! Loved it, Ashley. I, too, along with my wife, are in building mode. Good luck! Make sure to check out the newer homesteading technology where critical, such as a water supply auto-shutoff if a leak occurs. You may be able to get an insurance reduction for that item. Also the leak detector which Triggers the former. Check out our favorite new stuff from Aquor for what are called hose bibs / water faucets on exterior of your foundation..
Your comment that "nothing tastes as good as a memory" brought tears to my eyes! It is so very true.