First Spring Flower

 This past weekend we saw the first flower of spring in full bloom on the farm: the glorious skunk cabbage!  If you are unfamiliar with this hidden beauty, now's the time to go to a nearby swamp, creek, spring or seep and search around for a bulbous pinkish thick-fleshed flower right on the ground.  

These brave flowers actually make their own heat, melt snow and ice, and attract their pollinators to them when we are still convinced it's the deep of winter.  

Soon they will grow great big light green leaves that smell skunky when torn.  

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Inside this flower it might be as much as 59-95 degrees F above the air temperature, attracting insects weary of winter and in love with the carrion-smell the skunk cabbage produces.  


Meanwhile, we are busy preparing for spring just like the skunk cabbage.  Seeds are germinating and supplies are being gathered.  We are just a few short weeks away from getting into the ground.  

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