Lilacs, goslings, asparagus, morels: Bowman’s Bits, wild & early

Rambling around the town pond this morning with Lady, the family mutt, I heard Canada geese raising a ruckus on the south old clay pit.

BTW, I like that turn of phrase, “raising a ruckus.”

That made me pretty sure that meant there were some goslings had hatched and were swimming around. It took me a while to spot the handful of goslings, maybe four to six, because the 28 geese which kept swimming a walled fort around them.

It struck me that it was early for goslings. After I got home, I checked my other photos of goslings and this is the earliest I have for goslings.

That fits the pattern of the past week, early signs of spring ahead of schedule. Of course all the rains and the unseasonable warmth in the last week helped.

At least for me it began in earnest on Thursday when our youngest son came back with handful of morel mushrooms, by far the earliest any of us in the family found morels on our own. I made a plate of them on Friday for myself.

Just to prove it was no fluke, he came back the next day with another handful of morels.

Back to today, when I got home this morning after rambling around with Lady, I figured I better check our lilac bush with everything coming in early.

And it sure looks like the lilacs are rushing through their blossoming, too.

What is going on this spring? Things are just coming in very early.

When I posted about the morels on Thursday, a couple people mentioned finding wild asparagus already.

So later this morning, while I was out running around I made sure to take some back roads, the ones which I knew traditionally had wild asparagus growing in along the ditches.

Bingo, there was an obvious patch in one of the prime spots, no doubt about it, wild asparagus. So I whipped the car around and cut enough wild asparagus to add a good side dish to grilling tonight.

Back home I checked and this is the earliest that I have found wild asparagus on my own.

More looking for morels and wild asparagus to come.

Spring rushed in during the last week.