Season by Season

Wintering Insects Awake (March 5 -20) always seems like the time of year when everything shakes from its dozing. We have been gradually stirring from our winter slumber since February, our eyes peeping open as we become accustomed to the light, and by mid-March, the world is truly roused (compelled!) to action.

Never have I felt grateful for the arrival of “Snow Becomes Rain” in quite this way before. This season of the lunisolar calendar nudges us to remember the fluidity of warmer days, when the strong frigid grip lessens, and we feel a bit more looseness in the atmosphere. With each raindrop, we feel moisture return, lessening the cruelness of the dry cold.

By the solar calendar’s reckoning, spring begins around February 4th. Some may find this preposterous. How can it be that spring begins in such cold, dark days? Yet, everything must begin somewhere. Even the mighty river must form from a trickle. February is that trickle. Perhaps, even that droplet.

Tomatoes ripening on the vine symbolize all which is good of the summer season. Tomatoes ripening on the vine, catching the light of the summer sun, shining like a beacon against the cement shadows of New York City symbolize a gardener who has found their joy. Gardening, no matter the location, no matter the space. And, their joy becomes my joy.