Spring Sprang Sprung

This week's library event, my evolving garden, and "musical season"

It’s been a minute and I have lots of things to share with you, so let’s not waste time on a long, drawn-out intro, eh?

First off, if you are in West Michigan, come see me Thursday, May 22nd, at the White Lake Community Library in Whitehall, where I’ll be talking about my Michigan Notable Book Award-winning sixth novel, The Lady with the Dark Hair.

The event stars at 5:30pm and the weather should be cold, cloudy, and most likely raining—the perfect kind of evening to spend in a nice warm library with other book lovers! You can register for this free event here. And, as always, you can see all upcoming events on my website.

Second, how about those storms? For those outside of the Mitten State, there were 9 confirmed tornadoes from storms that plowed through the state on Thursday, May 15th—including one that traveled 15 miles on the ground from Charlotte to Lansing. Even places without tornadoes sustained a lot of damage to trees and power lines, with over 200,000 people without power. Some still don’t have power.

Thankfully, here at the Bartels house we escaped with nary a branch or even a leaf blown down in our yard. I was worried about my newly-planted vegetable garden during the storms, but we didn’t seem to get any of the predicted hail, so all my young plants remain unscathed.

On the heels of that storm, we’re in a sudden cool and cloudy weather pattern, with daytime temps in the 50s and nighttime temps in the 40s, which is sure to put a hold on the growth of heat-loving veggies like tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, and squash. But hey, at least the lettuce, peas, radishes, and carrots are happy about it. It also allows the 12 trees and shrubs I planted out behind our property and the lovely redbud tree I received for Mother’s Day and planted in the backyard time to adjust to life in the ground without the stress of high heat.

All those new trees and shrubs have me dreaming about 5-10 years down the road when our view out the back will include a lot more evergreens to block the sight and sound of the highway in winter, a lot more blossoms in spring for us (and the bees) to enjoy, a lot more edible fruit in the summer (elderberries, wild plums, serviceberries, and chokeberries I will likely process into jams), and a lot more color in fall.

I have a long-term strategy for that area that will include multiple waves of removal of invasive species (like Asian honeysuckle and garlic mustard) and planting of native species (shrubs like spicebush and viburnums, and spring ephemerals like trout lily, spring beauty, wild geranium, trillium, mayapple, ferns, and more). The trees I’ve just planted are all native to this area of the country as well. Much of what I plant will support native pollinators, act as host plants for larvae, and feed and house birds.

At the moment, the wildlife in the yard getting the most attention are young bunnies, which I scared out of their (well-hidden) hole while mowing.

I caught two and encouraged them back into their hole where their sibling was still hiding, but they scattered again and at this point I’m not sure if they re-entered the hole or decided to look for a quieter spot to hide. Luckily, they are fully independent at this stage, so they should be fine either way (as long as they can avoid predators).

I also run into toads pretty frequently.

Gardening is interesting in that one can focus on short-term plants and beauty (like annual flowers and herbs or tender vegetables like tomatoes) as well as long-term projects to build layers of beauty and biodiversity that take time to develop and pay off in decades of wildlife support.

It’s seeing the details as well as the whole. It involves both sides of the brain, one researching and planning, the other painting an artistic picture with a palette of plants.

It employs the physical self—you need muscle and endurance to get some of these big jobs done, and the more big jobs you do the more muscle and endurance you build. And it is spiritually and emotionally refreshing to spend time and energy outside tending to your garden and your self.

I still have several projects to accomplish before summer really hits and we go to Europe, and the sudden cool weather actually makes those tasks easier and more pleasant than if we dove straight into summer as we have the past few years.

Beyond gardening, spring is the time of musicals. My son had his school dinner theatre (which I missed thanks to COVID). His girlfriend was in Once Upon a Mattress. My mom was part of the chorus in the Bay City Players’ production of Oklahoma! And Zach and I attended Chicago at MSU’s Wharton Center with friends (who were able to get fantastic seats) and we will be seeing Hamilton there this weekend (with the same friends and their same great seats).

We leaned into 1920s attire for Chicago…

But I don’t have time to throw together an 18th-century gown for Hamilton, so it’ll just be 21st-century me in a dress and heels.

Well, that’s about it.

As a reminder, I do have a few events coming up, so if you’re anywhere near these cities, this is where and when you’ll find me talking about The Lady with the Dark Hair as part of the Library of Michigan’s Michigan Notable Books author tour:

MAY 22
White Lake Community Library (3900 White Lake Dr. Whitehall, MI 49461) on Thursday evening, May 22nd, starting at 5:30pm.

JUNE 5
Loutit District Library (407 Columbus Ave. Grand Haven, MI 49417) on Thursday evening, June 5th, starting at 6pm.

JUNE 11
Holton Branch of the Muskegon Area District Library (8776 Holton-Duck Lake Rd. Holton, MI 49425) on Wednesday evening, June 11th, starting at 5:30pm.

JUNE 13
Grace A. Dow Memorial Library (1710 W. St. Andrews Rd., Midland, MI 48640) on Friday evening, June 13th, starting at 6:30pm.

Now go plant something.