What a strange weather pattern this February and March. Today it is 80 degrees here in the mountains of western Maine. I was out throwing frisbees for the dog and caught a glimpse of an adult bald eagle flying up river(The Ole Androscoggin) first thing this morning. We finished a boil of maple sap yesterday and though we have not pulled the taps yet, the run has become a trickle due to warm nights and hot days. We'll wait till the end of the weekend to see if the trickle grows to a flow with colder night temps coming this weekend. Meanwhile, I am taking advantage of the early heat by planting my shelling peas, snap peas, mache and emu spinach. I've never gotten my peas in early enough to have a good harvest so this will be an interesting experiment. I love the feeling of having put seeds in the ground...the secret knowledge that something may soon emerge from the dirt just for me...its romanatic and I'm feeling the amorous vibes of the courting birds after sewing my wild oats. My garden is usually half under water at this time of year but now it is prime for planting. Kind of scary...and I hope summer isn't ridiculously hot and dry because we have had almost no natural snow this winter. I even put Frontline on Sadie already because the ticks and grubs are on the move. I guess you can say that I've broken through my gardening ice and the spring is officially on. Now its time to get some manure and build a base for my herb garden so I can move some of the kitchen herbs closer to the house. But I have time for all that. Today is a rare bugless warm day and I'm heading to the woods to harvest some Chaga. Here's a photo of my beloved finishing up his boil.