Phenology Updates

Today is April 21st.

Plants. Since we saw our first hepatica on April 12, we have not seen any woodland wildflowers bloom. The trees continue to bloom, but really have not progressed since the 12th either. The elms, red maples and now the aspen are in flower. Out driving today we saw cattails emerging from the ponds along the roadside. Yesterday I saw sapsucker holes on a maple tree that were weeping sap.The daffodils have been up and ready to bloom for two weeks. They just need one warm day. This weekend?

Birds/animals. Yellow-rumped warblers have been sighted. Bluebirds and robins seem to be everywhere. Chickadees continue to tee-hee call. Turkey vultures have been around for maybe two weeks now. I have not seen or heard any sand hill cranes flying over lately, but that might be because we have not been making maple syrup and I have not been spending long periods of time outdoors. The new bees are here, but they have nothing to forage yet, so Doug has been feeding them sugar syrup, which they have been gobbling up.

Human Phenology: We took the taps down on April 12th. But the recent weather has me wondering if we took them down too soon. Sap has flowed for sure during the last week, but probably it would be too starchy for good syrup. We would not have had time to boil sap anyway because we have super busy in the greenhouse. The plant sale stuff is essentially ready except for the tomatoes, berries, and labeling. The second greenhouse was started this week and is already half full. We need some warm days to make the basil grow big for the plant sale. Warm nights will save on the propane.Our neighbors have actually been out discing in last year's corn stalks. I think our fields are probably still too wet to work. We need some warm dry days so we can get out there and prep the garden soil. Today Donna drove the suburban down to the collapsed shed. It was the first time anyone has driven on the yard without getting stuck since last fall.

Weather: We had snow this week on Tuesday and last night there was dense fog, which settled into a thick frost on the windshields of the vehicles. Every night this week has been below freezing.