Spotlight on
by David Lane
The Blue Gate
Restaurant is
now hiring
for the following
positions: server,
hostess, busser, cooks,
bakery retail, box
office, yogurt shop,
as well as third shift
cleaners and bakers
Please apply at the Corporate office located
across the street from the Blue Gate.
Now Open
Hanging Baskets • Trees & Shrubs
Annuals/Perennials
Delivery Available
Bulk/Bag Mulch • Cocoa Bean Mulch
Fertilizers • Landscape Stone • Topsoil
Retaining Wall Blocks & Pavers
Garden Seeds
Vegetable Plants
Seed Potatoes
Onion Sets
700 S 900 W • Topeka, IN • 260.593.3003
11930 W 250 N • Middlebury, IN • 574.825.8873
Hours: M-F 9 am - 5 pm, Sat. 8 am - 1 p.m.
Advanced Indiana
Master Naturalist
B
Nature
Signs of Spring
el ieve it, spring is on the
horizon, even though our
weather still feels more like
winter. But wait, the calendar says March 20 was the official
start of spring. That’s key. Spring
begins its transaction from winter to
spring. I have been noticing signs of
spring in some very practical nature
observations.
Spring is something new, a fresh
start, taking on new-birth, scenery of
growth in the ecology of the universe
we live in. The sun rises in the earlier
hours of the morning and sets later on
in the afternoon. The days get slightly
warmer. Spring flowers start to appear,
some birds start making their way back
to the north country from their winter
stay in the south, because it’s warming up. I observed some robins and a
purple martin. I had a friend on face
book tell me that he has seen a couple
of woodchucks already.
Weather in spring can be variable. Some days it may be cold enough
to snow, and some days it is warm
enough to take a nature walk without
that heavy coat, but way too cold for a
swim. Spring months can also be awfully windy. Weather varies in spring
worldwide, as many can remember
from last year, when some days the
temperatures were in the eighties.
Hello spring, we’re hoping you
are here to stay as nature’s signals are
saying you will. The present of your
existence has revealed: red-wing black
birds and robins as they sing it out
clear: Wake-up, Wake-up.
Oh yes, the timing of the tree frogs
as they peep, sing, and jump; it’s truly a
sound to croak about and spring about.
For the males, they start to croak and
call in order to attract females. They
start with typical noisy choruses. The
chorus is interrupted
by some intervals
of silence and can
be heard over long
distances especially
by the waterways.
The sun can
keep our moods
bright. The sap
drips winter away
from the trees into the welcoming
newness of maple syrup. It boils down
to a better life of spring beauty and
a sweet sensation for our taste buds.
Soon, the leaves will be green and the
grass will take shape of its own. The
busy bees will be humming around the
trees and blossoms, to pollinate flowers as they make honey.
Honey-do lists come due …
but whose list can make anything fresh like spring dew?
The air is full of promising expectations. The wind smells of warmer,
more temperate places.
And now, when I walk, I look all
around me for new beginnings. It is
almost worth going through the harsh,
cold winter to be transported by this
transformation of early spring. The
signs of spring are unmistakable and
present everywhere.
Spring offers countless opportunities to help develop a love of learning
about nature. Plant a garden, sow some
healthy seeds, go birding, take a hike,
or fly a kite on a bike if you like. Take a
walk in a nature preserve or go fishing
and enjoy all that spring has to offer
you.
Studies have proven that the more
you get outside the better you will feel.
So, just go do it, as you are able.
The Hometown Treasure · April ‘13 · pg 41