Of Plans and Projects

Spring is a time of plans and projects.

- Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Yes, plans and projects are in full swing at Farm Dover, even though it is clearly not yet spring around here. In fact, it is still freezing cold and more snow is predicted for tomorrow with highs only in the 20s.

Our recent projects include cleaning up fallen trees and branches, a result of the long-lasting ice storm. Fortunately, no big trees were downed and the willows and river birches have finally uprighted themselves. We did lose a number of large branches and the tops to several cedar trees. The wild cherry trees and water maples seemed to take the brunt of the beating. Our woods look scarred, with the fresh wounds of fallen branches. The wounds will heal; the fallen branches will eventually compost on the forest floor; and new seedlings will emerge. But in the meantime,  Ed and I have been out with our chainsaw and clippers, cleaning up the worst of the messes.

As for plans, I've got big ones for our 2014 garden. I've spent hours combing through seed catalogs and organizing my left-over seeds from last year. One of the dwarf apple trees in our orchard did not make it and so I've been dreaming of replacing it. Perhaps a pear? or maybe a plum? or apricot? It's just so hard to decide....

Any day now, we are expecting delivery of our seedling order from Kentucky's Division of Forestry. We've ordered 10 each of sassafrases, sycamores, shagbark hickories, persimmons, Kentucky coffeetrees, eastern redbuds, blackgum and wild plums. Sure, they are only seedlings, but we have high hopes of populating the farm with these tiny native species and watching them grow into full-sized trees.

So our plans are in place; more projects are lined up. Now all we need is for spring to show up.