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Category: Spring

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Posted on May 8, 2024May 9, 2024 by Melissa Perley

When a spring season arrives it somehow feels like everything is new, as if winter has frozen my brain and made me forget spring. The leaves, curled tight like small green fists yesterday, have unfurled today, stretching their fingers toward the warmer sunshine. Looking out the kitchen window there is new texture across the mountains,…

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The Firsts

Posted on April 2, 2024April 2, 2024 by Melissa Perley

The breeze from the north felt hard but the almost-April sunshine is warm enough for us to want to walk down to the pastures with the dogs. I have a pan of chopped potatoes coated in olive oil and sprinkled with herbs waiting to roast. Bright green stalked of asparagus stacked into the depths of…

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“Life Is No Brief Candle To Me”

Posted on May 21, 2023May 22, 2023 by Melissa Perley

The leaves are unfurled. The view from our kitchen window is green. Living in the woods means that we essentially live in a tree house: everywhere we look there are either leaves or tree trunks. In the summer months it means that the house is darker, but I would not trade this feeling of solidarity…

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New Community

Posted on April 23, 2023April 24, 2023 by Melissa Perley

As the last vestiges of snow snake between rocks, trying to hide from the warming sun in cool crevices, it feels as if we have the luxury of time before spring is truly upon us. However, there is that one week, usually in April when the temperature rises and the snow finds there is no…

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Six Degrees Of Separation or the Six Handshakes Rule

Posted on April 2, 2023April 3, 2023 by Melissa Perley

Paul and I return from a Saturday afternoon walk. The sun is warm on our faces, the stream crashes down the mountain, released from its frozen captor. The snow banks, shoved back by the plow dwindle, sprouting strange snow sculptures, sprinkled with dirt and rising like Northern Stonehenge. Robins flap past each other to mushy…

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The Season For Growing

Posted on June 20, 2022June 21, 2022 by Melissa Perley

Each year in late winter, which for us is around April, we begin to think garden thoughts. We’ll sit on stools in the kitchen and map out future plots. We think about the fruit and vegetables that we want on our table and in our larder come fall. Farm catalogs come in the mail and…

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The Lusty Month Of May

Posted on May 16, 2022July 6, 2022 by Melissa Perley

Spring in Vermont doesn’t show up the way it does in some other states with their quiet unveiling of green in the month of April. Here we diddle with mud and brown and snow for about two months, vacillating between boots and Crocs: Mother Nature seemingly unsure about the exact season to put us into….

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New Beginnings

Posted on May 8, 2022May 9, 2022 by Melissa Perley

Because it has been a cold spring I was somewhat surprised by May. Normally I have been combing seed catalogs with my old lady glasses on, being a plant voyeur long before now. Suddenly it was the weekend before Mother’s Day and I realized a truth that all serious gardeners take to heart; always, always…

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Wanting What You Have

Posted on May 1, 2022May 2, 2022 by Melissa Perley

I shut the barn door for the final time Monday evening. As the wooden bar thunked into place, three ewes crowded close to be sure that I didn’t have one more feeding in me. I stood in the dark, looking up at the millions of stars and breathed in the temperate spring air. I woke…

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For Seasons

Posted on April 24, 2022April 25, 2022 by Melissa Perley

The greatest percentage of the joy of living in Vermont comes from the fact that we have four very distinct seasons. Cue Vivaldi. For us it isn’t about the clothes that we wear or the photo-ops that present themselves, it is about who we are because of these seasons. Summer in Vermont is our short,…

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Many Ways To Say It

Posted on April 11, 2022April 11, 2022 by Melissa Perley

Just outside my studio window, sitting on a ledge, is a robin’s nest. It has been there for several years. Prime real estate, under complete cover, high off the ground, comes fully furnished. A turn-key deal: all you have to add is eggs. I walked past the window a week ago and noticed some new…

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Daylight Spending

Posted on March 13, 2022March 13, 2022 by Melissa Perley

This weekend the clocks will spring ahead (that’s how I remember which way to turn them) and we will begin to gain daylight into the evening hours. The mercury has climbed out of the negative digits and I can feel the increased warmth from the sun. We have had evenings of rain instead of snow…

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Musicians Farming Sheep: March-ing

Posted on March 15, 2021March 1, 2022 by Melissa Perley

I’m driving past the pond on my way home and watching the icy wind lift swirls of snow into the air. They skitter across the frozen surface of the water, lift and dance like mini-tornados. creating white-outs as they blow across the road in front of my car. To me, they are the embodiment of…

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Melissa Perley is an
award-winning author, 
professional cellist, music teacher, farmer, mother and business owner. Follow her as she makes her way through life in Vermont.

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Melissa Perley
Melissa Perley

Melissa Perley is an award-winning author, 
professional musician, music teacher, farmer, mother and business owner. Follow her as she makes her way through life in Vermont.

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Latest Posts

  • HumanityJune 1, 2025
  • This Is WhyMay 11, 2025
  • The SofteningMarch 18, 2025

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