April 5, 2014: Yesterday, 4/04/14, the first snowdrops appeared around the base of the maple tree within view of the dining room. There are still patches of snow hither and yon on the property. It has finally felt like Spring this past week, after a very long winter here in the Northeast. Yet today feels like mid-March, the winds are gusting through the treetops.
We stopped putting out black oil sunflower seeds for the chickadees, titmice, red poles, golden finches and junkos because soon the black bears will be up and they will be hungry. In the past, we had left two or three seeds in the bottom of a feeder attached to the ground with a concrete base and in the spring the whole thing was pulled out. Okay. We’ve learned out lesson. The black bears are beautiful, shy, and non-threatening, but I don’t want them next to the house. Why, just last year, a big grandfather bear, about 600 pounds, with a grey mane, sat or stood on our pool and destroyed it.
It’s seed starting time. I worry about so many people buying plants in big box stores and other garden centers where the plants are laden with pesticides. The beautiful plants are put in the ground and attract pollinators to their death. Please ask your garden centers for plants without poisons. Maybe they will get the idea that there is a demand for less or no pesticides because the bottom line for them is money. They do not care that all our pollinators are disappearing. And if we don’t have pollinators, we do not have food. We have to stop the use of pesticides NOW.