Early Monday morning, March 20th (at 3:29 AM Pacific time) the sun moves into its spring position. At the Spring Equinox we have equal hours of day and night as the sun seems to pause for a moment in the sky. One can feel the quickening of life at this time as the Earth begins to radiate with the freshness of spring. Here in the high desert we've had a good winter of rain and snow and the roots of trees and plants have been well nourished. Seed pods are forming on trees,bushes are growing their first leaves,grasses are turning lush and green and the annual spring wildflowers have sprouted and are popping from the ground daily. It should be an amazing wildflower show in the desert this year!
   Here in the garden, spring has sprung as well. The fragrant fruit blossoms are singing with the music of bees, the crocus and daffodils are shining with happy flower faces and a variety of pollinators are at the feeders and flowers as their new season has begun. Rudy,the Rufous hummingbird (as we so lovingly call him!) has been hitting the "sugar tap" (hummie feeder) for days now. He left the mountains of Mexico recently and is traveling all the way north to British Columbia,possibly even to Alaska! He's a hungry little bird and we're happy to provide him with a refueling station for his long journey. I'm in the process of writing a children's book about the travels of Rudy (and his pal, Trixie the woodland faerie!) hopefully released next spring. It's a really fun story for children and parents alike and I'll keep you posted on its progress.
  The first Monarch and Painted Lady butterflies have been fluttering through the gardens. And the Sphinx Moths (otherwise known as" hummingbird moths") have been enjoying the yummy fruit blossoms as they hover and sip their nectar like hummingbirds! The first dragonflies of the season have been darting across the moist grass looking for tiny insects, their beautiful translucent wings remind me of the wings of faeries!!
 We've been eating our winter lettuce daily and last weekend we planted our spring crop of lettuce,kale,chard,carrots and cilantro. Some of the seeds have already sprouted as the temperatures have been so warm. We saved our tomato seeds from our harvest last year and now they're growing on the windowsill along with peppers and basil. They'll be planted outside in May. Our winter season of rest in the garden is officially over!
  I hope the freshness of spring touches each of your hearts this season. Though the world out there seems crazy and chaotic these days we can still return to the quiet beauty of our own hearts to renew ourselves. Place your hand on your heart and fill it with the love that you are. You are every bit as beautiful as the blossoms that are shining this spring. You are a blossom on the Earth and her garden just wouldn't be the same without you...

With much love, Marianne