The snows and ice  have (mostly) melted away. The sun shines warmer and longer. soon the fields will be active with farmers tilling the land to prepare to grow their crops, the crops to feed people, livestock, and agribusiness productions. this is a view of the heartland waking from winter slumber just before the season of growth is begun.

 “The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.” Wendell Berry

“When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”  Masanobu Fukuoka 

 “A farmer friend of mine told me recently about a busload of middle school children who came to his farm for a tour. The first two boys off the bus asked, "Where is the salsa tree?" They thought they could go pick salsa, like apples and peaches. Oh my. What do they put on SAT tests to measure this? Does anybody care? How little can a person know about food and still make educated decisions about it? Is this knowledge going to change before they enter the voting booth? Now that's a scary thought.” Joel Salatin

 “This whole effort to rebuild and stabilize a countryside is not without its disappointments and mistakes... What matter though these temporary growing pains when one can cast his eye upon the hills and see hard-boiled farmers who have spent their lives destroying land now carrying water by hand to their new plantations”Aldo Leopold 

 “Why does no one speak of the cultural advantages of the country? For example, is a well groomed, ecologically kept, sustainably fertile farm any less cultural, any less artful, than paintings of fat angels on church ceilings?”
              “Sustainable farms are to today's headlong rush toward global destruction what the monasteries were to the Dark Ages: places to preserve human skills and crafts until some semblance of common sense and common purpose returns to the public mind.”  
         Gene Logsdon

It is grey this day. I hoped to see a sunny and warmer morn to go walk my trails. I also have walked enough to know  the creeks and rivers here are lower for springtime. I know the land needs rain. I know farm fields and orchards across much of this continent need rain.
Water is life, there is no arguing that. I intentionally walk beside waterways as my dogs must be able to quench their thirst as we exercise and  walking to the river's edge is simpler than toting a water bottle and bowl. It also allows for the wonderful sounds of the water and increases the variety of life to be seen, from insect to eagle, otter  to deer. Here are some water, cloud and weather shots from recent weeks on walks

 Words from  Iowa's State Climatologist Harry Hillaker -
“The meteorological season of winter runs from December 1 through February 28.  This past winter season has been the coldest experienced in Iowa in 35 years and ranks as the 9th coldest winter in 141 years of records.  Temperatures this winter season averaged 14.7 degrees or 7.2 degrees below normal.''
   and March has been harsh with below normal cold and we had snow as recently as Monday March 24th...
but the wild flowers are trying to grow, some getting a bit nipped and shriveled from the cold, the ice is mostly gone from rivers and streams and we have begun the season of spring.
   Spring one day will be blossoming floral trees and  green grass waving in warm breezes but at it's earliest appearance one must get down and dirty  and look closely. When down at bug's eye level there is much to see, the greening , growing spring but also the ancient fossilized impressions of bygone ages, the amazing texture of decaying wood, the minutia hiding inside the hollows of trees stumps and the intricacies of a spider's web. Don't sweat the small stuff, but I do recommend sometimes taking time to look and appreciate it .