Once I was harvesting beets, and a katydid landed on my glasses. The katydid was pretty happy there, but it was hard to see the beets.
Once at lunchtime my daughter was looking out the screen door, and she said “Hurry! Hurry! There’s a moose!” There it was, walking down the dirt road, in broad daylight, not the least bit worried about us, standing amazed behind the screen door.
Once I picked a raspberry and found I had a honeybee in my hand. The nice bee righted itself and flew away, without stinging me. I ate the raspberry.
Once we were bringing our four big horses in from the field, and my daughter was ahead, with two horses. I heard her calling “Wait! Wait!” I stopped with my two horses, wondering. My daughter led her two to the barn and ran back. There was a painted turtle making its slow way across the grass. We had never seen one before. The horses thought the grass was more interesting than the turtle.
Once my fellow was coming back down from the hay field, and he saw a mama weasel and five little ones, all vibrating with excitement about their adventure along the stone wall. My fellow was vibrating with excitement too. Five tiny weasels! And their mama!
Once we caught a porcupine in our Havahart trap. As we got closer, the porcupine swelled up bigger and bigger, slowly and impressively. My fellow opened the trap, and the porcupine waddled out, in a very dignified manner, and disappeared into the shrubbery.
Once I was picking beans in the farthest corner of the garden, and I saw a tiny bright green jewel of a frog on a bean leaf, and went running to the house for my fellow and our daughter. They ran back with me, and my little frog friend was still there.
Once my daughter came running from the mushroom yard, where she was picking shiitake mushrooms with her father, to find me. When we got back to the yard, they both said, “Look at the lichen on the log.” I looked at the lichen on the log. “Look a little closer,” they said. I looked a little closer. It was a lichen frog, flat and scaly and pale green. Even its eyelids were flat and scaly and pale green. We are glad that frogs stay still for long periods while we race around gathering people to admire the frogs.
Once we were picking cabbage, and a garter snake wiggled out in a hurry from underneath a head. We are used to seeing them under the compost cover, where it’s nice and warm. Maybe cabbage is nice and warm too.
Once my daughter was soaking her sprained ankle in the pond, keeping us company while we wrestled with our irrigation system. She kept watching a little bird, flying in and out of a bush. It had a bright yellow spot on its behind. I brought my daughter the bird book, and the bird was one we’d never seen before: a yellow-rumped warbler, making a nest in the bush. You don’t see a new bird every day, especially when you are soaking your ankle in a pond.
Once we planted cabbage, and it turned into Brussels Sprouts. The seed company sent a note later on saying they had mixed up the seeds.
Once a cricket went up my shirt. Even more stimulating was when a wasp went up my shirt. Again it was my lucky day; despite my writhing about in a panic, the wasp didn’t sting me.
Once I went into our backroom, to put some scraps in the compost bucket, and someone was there before me. It was a possum, who had ambled in through the open door (whoops), nudged off the unsecured compost lid (whoops), and was enjoying it all until I arrived (whoops). “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said, “But I am going to shut my backroom door next time!”
Originally published in The Monadnock Shopper News, Oct 19 -- Oct 25, 2022