Loveless in bloom

What a wonder this spring to see how nature has reclaimed the land. Purple lilac flowers greeted us at the side of the road and  ferns are growing in patches under the spruce trees and woodsy hillside.

This fern stopped me in my tracks (though it WAS a good stopping point on Stairmaster Hill from Loveless Lake). I'd never seen one before, but have since learned it's an aptly named maidenhair fern. 

After spying several skinny trees with salmon colored bark this winter, I was finally able to get a positive ID from colleague and master gardener Mary Jane, who said Loveless is blessed with a stand of river birch trees behind the cabin. How cool is that? 

Now that spring is springing forth with gusto, the rush is on to once again scour for trash before the place gets too overgrown with grass and weeds. I’ve collected another large bag of aluminum cans, which we’ll trade in at the Polk County Recycling Center on our next "first Saturday." With any luck, it'll offset some of the cost of paying to dispose of three more tires we discovered.

I also unearthed a second (or is it third?) steel drum for our friend Mike to scrap, as well as what would have been a most excellent cooking pot if it hadn’t gotten squished at some point.

Mike spied some wild strawberries up by the road, and showed me a stalk of Stinging Nettle, which he said his aunt used to make herbal tea.

He also noted that it wouldn’t be far-fetched to find another kind of herb on the land, as well ….