It’s the first day of spring and the weather here in Northern Michigan is unusually sunny and mild. March is definitely a capricious month for weather here but I’m hopeful that the “in like a lion, out like a lamb” holds true this month.

Today is in the 50s so the dog and I’ll be going out soon to explore. (Typical March temperatures in our part of Michigan run between 22 and 40 degrees) Yesterday’s trek found a snowdrop in the yard — not pushing its way through the snow like most years but right in the middle of the grass. So it’s time to check out the woods and see if any of the native spring ephemerals are pushing their way out of the ground and if there is any sign of ramps (wild leeks) coming up.

I’m not an avid forager but we do dig ramps in the spring and look for morel mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns. That first taste of spring, combined with the first availability of our CSA share in April, makes spring a culinary joy!

In addition to checking out the growth patterns in the woods, I’ll also start charting out the daytime temperatures to see when it’s safe to begin garden work.

For years I cleaned up my garden in the fall and then as soon as was possible I was out doing an early spring bed preparation The theory I was taught was that an hour in the garden in the fall saved three hours in the spring and gave you a head start on the next year’s work. But as I’ve learned, leaving dead stems, leaves and twigs in the garden gives butterflies and bees places to live until they are ready to emerge in the spring — usually when daytime temperatures are steadily above 50 degrees.

So until then I’ll limit my spring clean up to taking out some saplings that are in an area I want to plant this spring and making a new burn pile with those. Meanwhile that will give our black lab plenty of time to check out the smells of the rabbits that live under our deck. And when my back says “enough already” I’ll start making a spring order for my new native garden.

Happy Spring!