The Spring Equinox and Easter are Fast Approaching

Today is the first day of March and the winter is quickly coming to an end.  Soon it will be spring and then Easter.  The Christian festival of Easter has its roots in pagan traditions.  For the tribes of Scandinavia Eostre was the goddess of dawn.  Her name derived from the word “East” which is the direction of the rising sun.  Eostre’s special festival was the spring equinox – the dawn of the sun’s reign in the northern hemisphere.  A human victim was selected as the “Year King” and was sacrificed as winter turned into spring.  His body was buried in the fields which would come to life again with the rising grain.  By eating the bread made from the grain, everyone would share in the miracle of the rebirth.

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, this year spring begins in the northern hemisphere on March 20th at 1:14 A.M. (EDT).  This is a time of longer days, warmer temperatures, and rebirth.  As spring and Easter approach, here are some photos of Hereward farm emerging from the long but mild winter.

Baby rabbits in the nest box.  The doe  pulled out her own fur to add to the shredded newspaper to make a warm nest for her kits.  Unlike other animals, rabbits do not sit on the nest in the wild.  Compared to a conspicuous doe sitting atop a nest, leaving the kits to burrow down and hide in relative comfort avoids drawing unwanted attention.  An earlier litter was kindled on a cold night. With no heat from the mother they sadly all died.  With this litter the nest box has been brought inside on the few cold nights since they were kindled.  The doe does not seem to mind and feeds her kits in the morning.  The kits in this photo are just a day or two old and already growing fur (and reading the Financial Times).

Modern icons of Easter - eggs and chicks.  Just hatched Buff Orpington chicks in the incubator and then a few hours later.

Even though it is only the first day of March, the plum trees are already flowering.

The beavers emerge from winter and begin to eat the cambium of living trees.

When regular just won't do - Super-Size!  When this tree falls it will definitely make a sound in the forest.

Even the cats appear to be casting off their winter depression.  This is the first actual evidence that one of the cats has actually caught a live mouse.  Of course, there is the story about a blind squirrel finding nuts occasionally.