Lilac Time

Yes, its that time of year again and I've been meaning to take a picture but never seem to take the time to stop. This morning I did. It isn't Kew Gardens and its plenty far from London but here is the blooming lilac bush on display at "The Poplars", the Ernest Nevard homestead. I wonder if Ernest and Mary were thinking of the lilacs at Kew Gardens when they planted these lilacs so many years ago on their homestead in a wild and distant land, far from where they grew up in the U.K. Maybe this was a little reminder of where they came from.
As usual I was racing against inclement weather trying to get crop spraying done. With threatening rain and rising wind (both bad news for spraying herbicides) I still stopped for just a minute to take this shot with the lilacs in the background of the tractor and sprayer.
3 hours and 90 acres later the sprayer tank was empty and I was on the way home in strong winds but still no rain.

Come Down to Kew in Lilac Time

That old poem by Alfred Noyes for some reason came to mind today while at work beside the blooming lilac bushes. I don't know if we studied it in high school or if one of my British ancestors used to quote it but the lines about lilac time stick in my mind like so many other bits of useless information.
These in the photo were planted by some of my Nevard ancestors near the old yard and they are usually out in full force when I am doing spring planting in the field they reside by.
Today was not really planting, actually pre-working the ground in hopes of drying it up and killing a heavy growth of weeds. The 4 inches of rain last week has made a lot of the field impassable and I have spent a lot of time and fuel literally spinning my wheels today but did manage to get a lot of the field worked. How did I ever farm without a front wheel assist tractor? 2 wheel drive would be useless in these muddy conditions. 4 wheel drive or tracks would be better. Working by the highway is always interesting with all sorts of traffic passing. Some must have wondered what this crazy farmer was doing out in the mud with a tractor and cultivator.
Many sloughs were running over into the next one. The water must be coming up out of the ground. The sun and wind co-operated and soil conditions did improve as the day progressed but still a long way to go. Hoping to plant flax here but it has to be soon. We are hitting the first of June tomorrow and any crop planted in June I consider at high risk here.