I spent this beautifully bright and warm spring day clipping
and raking the meadow. There are now plenty of dried stalks, seed heads, straw
and leaf litter to add to the “lumber yard”
for wildlife. The birds sing incessantly. A little flock of goldfinches has
been visiting the feeders in recent weeks, their plumage all shades of muted
yellow and olive. I hear their reedy song while I work. But this morning a
neighbor’s incessantly droning leaf blower, that I had to put up with for well
over an hour, drowns out the sweet sounds of spring. I disturb a bee with my
rake and I gingerly replace the leaf litter. I wonder how many bees and other critters
are being more rudely and inadvertently driven out from their winter hiding by
the gas-guzzling machine over the road from me. I rake and clear just enough so
as not to smother and destroy emerging fauna and plants. The Nest Depot at the back edge of my property is now
overstocked with building material and organic matter left in place feeds the
soil.
