Signs of Spring

 This was the first warmish weekend day here in the Hudson Valley, and we were not the only ones spending the day outside taking stock of what the winter wrought and looking for the glorious signs of spring.  Joining us in the yard were the ladies of the hive.



After a long winter inside, the honeybees were out in force gathering pollen.  The yellow balls you can see on the back of their legs is the pollen these forager bees went out and collected.  As we observed the hive, we noticed two distinctly different colors of pollen; one was a muted greenish-yellow and the other was a bright, brilliant yellow.  As the forsythia on our road are not yet in bloom, I wondered where they were collecting from.  Then as we sat outside and ate out lunch my husband pointed his finger across the field and there it was staring us in the face----an enormous willow tree, bright with yellow buds---the same color as the pollen the bees were collecting!  

We were grateful to see some buds on the apple tree we planted several years ago, since it has taken some abuse from the deer (as you can see by the chewed off branch to the right of the bud).  Luckily, this year, the deer fence is in and, hopefully, all plants in the yard will fare better!

 Radish sprouts!!