Note: This page is from our archives and is no longer being maintained. It may not be up to date or accurate.

Please use the menus above to find more current information about Dancing Rabbit.

For current material from our online Newsletter, The March Hare, and our weekly updates see http://blog.dancingrabbit.org.

Open Season for Visitors * Member Bio: Penn * Working on Sustainability * Ecovillage Search * Eco to Go: Time * Can You Help? * Nature Corner * The View from the Top of the Rabbit Hole

Nature Corner
by Rachel Katz

It's Spring! It's Spring! It is a Katz family tradition to hold hands in a circle and dance around singing those words when someone discovers the first crocus in bloom. I do the dance here at Dancing Rabbit as my parents do it in New York. But I also feel the joy as spring signals its arrival in many different ways.

I've been anticipating the arrival of each bird from its winter home. The blackbirds arrived first, followed by the robins and the meadowlarks. How exciting to see the turkey vultures returning to do their wobbly soaring! Then at night, the first peepers and chorus frogs seemed to start calling before the ice on the ponds had even melted. And don't forget the plants! The buds of maples and elms swelled and burst open with their strange little flowers. Then the rose bushes and gooseberries pushed their miniature leaves out. The only first that was not joyously received was the first tick, found by Maya the dog and collected in her ear.

The real action is in woods in the early spring. Before they have any leaves, the redbud and wild plum will be blooming. But don't forget to look on the ground! Wildflowers that live in the woods need to pop up quick and flower before the trees shade them out. So mayapples come out of the ground nearly full size with a flower bud already formed. The names may be tantalizing enough to lure you into the woods this special time of year: spring beauty, bloodroot, and wild ginger.

One thing we see peeking up nearly everywhere is wild parsnip. This is a non-native plant that is very invasive and causes poison ivy-like burns when the juice on one's skin is exposed to sunlight. But the plant does have one saving grace. It is a relative of the domesticated carrot and parsnip and is quite tasty. It is easiest and best to harvest in the very early spring, just when we are finishing the last of the potatoes and wish we had more root vegetables. In fact, this is a great time of year to figure out where many of those wild edibles are that you'll want to seek out later in the season. Later in the year you can't see the edibles for all the vegetation. But now as the gooseberries put out their leaves early and the plums their flowers, it is easy to find them for later fruit picking expeditions.

You should all admire my restraint. I'm a bird fanatic and you've hardly heard a peep about them! But I have to share the story of a special bird that has been hanging around the village. A screech owl (only about 8 inches tall!) has been spotted around this building and that. But most exciting was when folks discovered it roosting on a joist inside the machine shed. Everyone had to sneak a peek at the little puffed up sleeping owl. And just a few days later it was seen on the door to the machine shed, easy to see and photograph.

Now that I'm talking about birds, let me tell you a few more things. The male birds arrive first to set up territories so they are ready to woo the ladies when they return from the south. All morning, and sometimes all day, the males sing their song to keep other males away, and eventually to attract mates. Some birds are pretty tolerant of humans and make their territories right in among the houses. In fact, there is a phoebe singing outside my door right now, as he has done every day this week. I can only hope some female likes his singing and moves in, so I can watch them make a family in my backyard.

So—it's Spring! don't be shy. This is the perfect time of year to get outside and add your song to the morning chorus!

Open Season for Visitors * Member Bio: Penn * Working on Sustainability * Ecovillage Search * Eco to Go: Time * Can You Help? * Nature Corner * The View from the Top of the Rabbit Hole