apple blossoms in bloom

The town we live closest to is named "the apple capital" of Nova Scotia. As a result, we have an abundance of orchards around us and over the past couple of weeks, the apple blossoms in all of our nearby orchards have been in bloom. 

It's quite a spectacular sight - rows and rows of trees completely covered in soft pink and white blooms. Even more beautiful, is actually stopping to walk through an orchard in bloom. It's like a sea of petals that cling to the branches in some inexplicable way, so fragile and delicate. It's a wonder the slightest breeze doesn't carry them off. Their scent is subtle, but sweet. And the sound? At first you hear it before you see them, this low humming that fades in and out. As you look closer, you begin to see them - the bees, hovering, then dancing from one blossom to another, never stopping, always searching.

The blooming of the fruit trees, like so many other early blooms, is short and fleeting. It's something that I look forward to from the first signs of the trees come back to life. It's when everything seems to come back to life. Worthy enough a sight that I'll risk trespassing just to walk up and down the rows, taking them in, knowing in a day or two, or after the next heavy ran, or breezy day, they'll all be gone. Luckily, I have yet to meet a farmer who wasn't friendly enough to grant me the pleasure.

And as this is our first spring in our new home, and after so much had already faded by the time we purchased our property in the fall, it was the first time we were really able to see what was growing.

To my delight, there are two large, unruly apple trees down at the river's edge. Their branches are covered in lichen, gnarled and wild. Despite their age, beautiful blossoms covered them once more this spring.

Planting fruit trees is on our list of projects to do over the next few years, but not something that we will tackle any time soon, so I was thrilled to know that we had some already established.

Walking through the orchards was lovely, but this year, seeing my own white blossoms was something that brought me joy every time I looked out my kitchen windows.

spring in the dining room

 

It's deceptively sunny out this morning. We're well into March, but the temperatures don't seem to want to budge above freezing. That being said, the sun is decidedly warmer, so it at least feels spring-like inside. The Cherry Blossoms we've been forcing have started blooming and all the sunshine has brightened the dining room up. It doesn't get direct sunlight aside from first thing in the morning, so it can always seem darker than some other rooms in the house.

As it's been so long since I've shown much of the house (or anything for that matter!), I figured I'd start here.

Few things feel more like spring than blooming branches. The perfect way to add some spring to any room is by forcing some. My dad dropped off these branches on his way home from the flower market a couple weeks ago. They've made for lots of interesting lessons with the boys. We've painted the stages of the blossoms opening. We've studied the life cycle of the tree. We'll get around to studying pollination and the anatomy of the bee. And we unexpectedly discovered Hanami, the Japanese Cherry Blossom (Sakura) festival.

And then there are these beautiful Hellebores - another favourite spring flower. I picked this one up from the garden center. I've always wanted to plant some in our gardens as they're perennials. I love the variety of blooms varying from creamy white, to fresh green with hints of pink. If you find one with lots of new buds it will last a while. They look delicate, but they're actually very rugged. The leaves are almost hard and prickly. But when you need to push your way up through snow and slightly frozen ground, and survive those last unexpected cold snaps, you'd need to be pretty resilient.

Our dining room is in the original part of our home, which consists of the stone house and then a series of additions behind, so it has all the character.

And now that it feels more spring-like inside, I think I should probably take down our wreathes on the windows outside. Which is a tad sad because they're still pretty green!

This week we are taking some time off from school as it's spring break. I'm planning on going through the house and doing the Ruthless Declutter Challenge from Simplified with Emily Ley. It's a one week challenge to declutter your whole house, room by room, in a week. I did it last year and have been surprised at how decluttered things have stayed over the last year. I'm looking forward to it because I think it will be good to go through everything inside drawers and cupboards before trying to spring clean the house. You can follow along in my stories on instagram @growersdaughter.

spring blossoms

The other afternoon, the boys and I took a drive around the country side, scouting our favorite orchards, hoping the blossoms would be out.

We caught them at the perfect time!

I don't know why I look forward to them so much, but I do. I love that we live in a region where there's an abundance of fruit farms and fruit stands. And something about seeing the blossoms is a reminder that not long after, strawberries will be ripe for picking and local snap peas and asparagus will be available at the market. Not to mention the joy of walking through clover that's halfway up to my knees, still damp from rain, and the sound of bees floating from blossom to blossom...

And as quickly as they appear, they seem to fade. All the more reason to make the most of them while we can.