Mother Earth

Signs of spring are all around us--the return of robins, the scent of the earth reawakening and colourful flowers peeking out of the brown soil. 

How lovely it is to walk outside without heavy winter coats, hats and gloves. The dog running ahead, sniffing new and exciting scents. The sun is brighter and the days longer. Inside, I throw open the windows and burn scented candles  to refresh the stale air.

Scents for spring should be light and refreshing, such as rose water, lilac and lily of the valley.

Easter has arrived and with it comes happy memories of Easters' past. Toasting Hot Cross Buns and painting hard boiled eggs. I recall Easters when I was a girl and how much warmer the weather was in the '60s. We went to church wearing only our pastel dresses, hats and white gloves with maybe a sweater to keep us warm. My Aunt Lil would have a juicy ham and a fruit pie baking in the oven, filling her house with their delectable aromas.

When I was a girl images of Mother Nature were those of mature women, unlike today's paintings and photographs of young, beautiful, multicultural women, draped in greenery and surrounded by animals and flowers. 

I used to get Mother Nature confused with Mother Hubbard. A TV ad that stays with me is from the 1970s with Dena Dietrich portraying Mother Nature who is tricked into believing that Chiffon Margarine is butter. 'It's not nice to fool Mother Nature,' she quips just before lightning strikes.

In prehistoric times, goddesses were worshiped for their association with fertility and agriculture. The feminization of nature was a natural progress of early humans at the end of the last glacial period around 11,500 BCE, when men went hunting and women stayed behind  with the children and planted crops.

Now is the time to sow seeds for summer flowers and vegetables. I don't have a greenhouse, so I'll start them indoors in trays. They won't require sun for several weeks until they begin to sprout. In six weeks I'll have shoots of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis and radishes to plant outside. Next week I'll buy a copy of Farmers Almanac, a wonder source of information for gardening and environmental issues. 

The ground is still frozen, but with optimism, I have been strolling through the garden, making notes and watching to see what has survived the harsh winter. So far, just the miniature roses bushes look forlorn without any buds, but that could change. Snow is predicted to fall next Tuesday, and I'm crossing my fingers that it will melt on the ground and plants and flowers will continue to blossom.