The field where we grow our blackberries has a hardness in winter that is hard to describe. It is not barren, Rather it has lost an intimacy with its visitors. A place to pass through, offering little cause to linger. Click on the image for a larger view.
Category Archives: Life at Home
Winter Blackberries
I explored our land this weekend. We have had unusual amounts of rain, freezing rain, and sleet this winter. The snow pack is hard and slippery–normally when I wear snowshoes, it is so I don’t sink too far into the snow, but now I just need the crampons on the shoes to stop from slipping.
Our blackberry field is like an abstract painting of hard black strokes on a brilliant white canvas. This is such a stark transformation from what this field looks like in the summer. Click on the image for a larger view.
Winter Constellations
High altitude clouds create halos around the bright stars in the winter constellations: Orion, on the right with his famous belt and sword; Taurus, in the center marked by his blazing eye; and the Pleiades, the tight blue group on the left. Click on the image for a larger view.
New Years Day, 2017
Wishing you a wonderful and prosperous new year.
(The start to our new year was marked by a snow storm that caused
a three-day power outage. We got our power back today.
But it made our forest look very pretty. Click on the image for a larger view.)
Night and Day
Click on the image for a larger view.
Blue Jay in Winter
It was a dark, snowy weekend. We had our usual visitors to our bird feeder: chickadees, junco, mourning doves, titmice, cardinals, and goldfinches. We usually do not have blue jays at our feeders, even though they are a common bird in Maine. These intelligent birds—they are a member of the crow family—have striking plumage in any season. If they were not so common, they would attract bird watchers from around the world. Click on the image for a larger view.
In the Shadow of the Moon
I spent the Wednesday walking in the shadows of the moon. The brilliant white of the snowpack makes traveling through the forest under a full moon magical. The air is clean and crisp, and sound seems to disappear into the clear winter sky. The world loses its hard edges. Trees become shadow, and distance and scale illusionary. Click on the image for a larger view.
Snowy Day in Maine
We had about three inches of snow today. This is the first storm of any significance this season. I went out to walk through our forest and field to enjoy the event. The light is gray like sharpened steel. Snow muffles sound, making the forest silent except for the laughter of the neighborhood children playing outside. Click on the image for a larger view.
First Snow, Winter 2016
We woke this morning to the first snow of winter. Nothing bad, just a thin layer of crusty ice. The weather has been so mild and warm this year that the snow was a not so gentle reminder the season is changing. One of our blackberry briers is in the foreground. It looked very different in August. Click on the image for a larger view.
Transitions
The forest transitions at its own pace. Microclimates create individual schedules for areas throughout our forest. The beech and oak are the last to lose their leaves, although the beach will not drop their foliage until they are ready to renew it in the spring. Click on the image for a larger view.
