The Frosted Garden

Alas, the garden is being put to bed for the winter, and it makes me a little sad to be pruning the roses back and cutting back the perennial residents of the bee garden for another long winter. As much as I loved the flowers in their prime at the height of summer, they are fetching creatures on an icy morning in late October, outlined in frost and sparkling in the early light. 

The Old Wild Mother (Earth) brings other gifts though. The winter bird feeders have been taken out and stuffed with the best wild bird seed I could find, and the garden is full of happy birds, dancing from branch to branch in the cedar hedges and singing their pleasure as soon as the sun is up. The seed is purchased in bulk from my local farm co-op and the bins in the garage have just been filled for the winter. The winter choir approves of the menu on offer and says so.

Next up are the suet feeders, as soon as I can find a place to hang them that is not accessible to the squirrels - the little blighters have their own banquet tables. Seed is also scattered on the deck for ground feeders like juncos and sparrows, and they are not shy about letting me know when their buffet is running low.