Ever since we had to pull the mountain ash tree out and destroy it, I’ve been keeping an eye on my other trees that may be susceptible to the fire blight. I’m a bit worried that we’ll lose one of our beautiful crab apple trees (which are now blooming and look just lovely) or, worse, our apple tree that is just now finally starting to produce an abundance of fruit for us.

I also kinda took it as a sign from the universe that we need to be more vigilant. We have to watch out for the first signs of trouble and recognize them so we can take proper precautions before they get beyond our control and destroy fully.

While we were out gardening this past weekend we noticed that the neighbor behind us has lost one of their apple trees completely and was cutting it down. We’re not sure if it was to the blight, but most likely it was since it’s quite common here in our area. When we get a chance to talk to him, we’ll ask.

Luckily everything else here looks unaffected (knock on wood) and things are progressing nicely. Our crabapples are full of pollinators…

We still have tulips blooming…

The flowerbeds next to the pond are doing really well. Our day lilies are growing like mad and the asiatic lilies are coming up, too.

The daisies are getting taller and the periwinkles are filling in where the alyssum left gaps.

The hostas are filling out and will be blooming soon, just under the window where the robin has her nest.

I’m happy I planted a lot of perennials in the flower beds in recent years so I can focus more on growing my food gardens this year. With everything going on in the world, I want to make sure we have enough in the root cellar and pantry to get us through *just in case*.

I’m not alone, either. More of our neighbors than ever are gardening and keeping livestock. There seems to be a revolution happening across the country, in fact, and it’s great to see. I encourage everyone I meet now to think about growing some food and stocking their pantries. This last year should be a wake up call to everyone out there that we can’t rely on the global supply chains to provide for us. We can’t put our faith in the powers that be to save us if major food supply disruptions happen.

While it would be nice to pretend that we are impervious to another Great Depression (or worse), we simply can’t ignore the fact that something disastrous could be heading our way and we don’t want to be unprepared for it, whatever it may be. It doesn’t matter which side of the political spectrum you align yourself, either.

The alarm bells have been ringing for quite some time and the warning signs are flashing continually now. We should all be keeping an eye out for them and for each other.