I was thrilled to see the first little yellow tulips opening today, after another night in the teens. A welcome harbinger of warmer weather! Though we’ll have some more freezing nights, the two-week forecast promises seasonal spring days, and more time in the garden.

When I enlarged the first images to check for clarity I gasped, noticing only then the tiny grasshopper instar hiding in the petals. I took another shot with my fingertip for scale.

I don’t recall when I saw the first grasshopper last spring, but it was earlier than I’d ever seen one before, and we had The. Worst. Ever grasshopper infestation that summer. I think today is now the earliest I’ve seen a grasshopper in the garden. We had so hoped in this neighborhood that the extreme cold over the winter had killed them. One silver lining that occurred to me after losing the apricots was that an 8 degree night had surely wiped out any potential grasshoppers. Wrong!

Between this development, and having seen zero honeybees since February, I feel disheartened about food-growing success this year, and not just for me. I sure am grateful that I’m starting a Grateful Gathering next week, to support my practice in what feels like ever more dire circumstances.