Sprung!

Happy Spring!!  Ordinarily,  the first day of spring is a technical date - it usually still feels like winter in Minnesota. Not this year--spring has sprung.

Our house is blessed with a great view to the east where we can watch the sun's path throughout the year as it swings way south in winter and far north in summer, making us feel so much more tuned in to the calendar than we did when we lived in town and couldn't see the sunrise. On the spring and fall equinox, the sun rises precisely at the end of the road.

This photo is yesterday's sunrise; I missed it this morning. The red sky indicated rain --we finally got some wonderful, much-needed moisture last night that has encouraged a lot of things to pop out of the ground and green up visibly in the past 24 hours.

I bet these daffodils will be open by the end of today!

Bleeding hearts are up.

The white magnolia  will surely be blooming within hours!
A bit unusual, because it often blooms when there is still snow on the ground.

Lilac buds!!

You can already see the development of the silver maple's helicopter seeds on the flowers.

The grass is greening up quickly in the yard and pasture and the tree tips are budded.

The patch of pampas grass is a mess, but young grass is shooting up underneath.

Chickens are fanned out everywhere to catch the early worms. In the yard,

in the duff  along the woods.

Water never tastes better than from a fresh puddle.

The guineas are avidly patrolling the farm.  I learned via Facebook that the ticks are already out --our tick population has plummeted since getting the guineas.

It is my very FAVORITE time of year!!! I am so happy!