EARTH DAY - APRIL 22, 2025

Earth Day in April is the one day that focuses on the crucial role of renewable energy in combating climate change and securing a sustainable future. It highlights the importance of renewable energy using sources like solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, and tidal power. 

Many people are dismayed to learn that China currently leads in renewable energy capacity and generation, hosting nearly half of the world's total operating wind and solar capacity, and generating a significant portion of global renewable electricity. Whether a fan or foe of green energy, finding alternate ways to generate it to help save our planet from destruction and for future generations is a noble cause.                                                                                                  

When I look around our house, we have embraced solar energy with solar lights on and around our house. They are both an aesthetic feature and also provide illumination for safety reasons. Many schools are now building small solar energy farms to save energy costs. The Steelton-Highspire School District (SHSD) in Pennsylvania is a school district that utilizes a 1.7 MV solar array to power 100% of its electricity needs, resulting in significant cost savings and serving as a clean energy mode.

I am always in awe of the windmills when we travel. Locally, you can view them along the mountain tops on a drive to Altoona, Pennsylvania. When we visited Palm Springs, California, we were able to see the vast number of wind turbines of the San Gorgonio Mountains, strategically placed on both sides of Interstate 10 to take advantage of the 15-20 miles per hour wind that weaves through the pass in between the San Jacinto Mountains that hug Palm Springs. 

With springtime sneaking upon us, it is time to rejoice and appreciate the beauty of our planet. There are already small buds on our lilac bushes. The poppy plants, fearless of the cold, have awakened with green foliage shooting upward and daffodils and crocuses are blooming. As I look around and think how beautiful our rural landscape is, I can't resist raising my voice in celebrating Earth Day with all those who support the protection of our lands and Planet Earth. 

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HELLO, APRIL!

 I’m the first to admit that I enjoy April.

April is when all the flowers from bulbs beneath the sleepy earth emerge. Daffodils, crocus, wind flowers, and small grape hyacinths bring color, scent, and life back to the flowerbeds.

I think back to my childhood and how my mother loved plants and bushes of all types. We were a  farm family, and  it was not unusual to visit a neighbor’s house and go home with a piece of a bush, or some shoots wrapped in a wet rag, or a bundle of roots tied up in a burlap feed bag. Mother always found a place to plant her treasures and nurse them to maturity. And the favor was returned when friends, relatives, and neighbors came to call and left with a clump of rhubarb or day lilies.

At the front corner of my house, I still have trumpet vines from cuttings my mother gave me decades ago. Every fall we chop them back to stubby trunks, and in the spring they explode in a flourish of leaves and blossoms that entice the hummingbirds.

In the back yard, I have a bed of rag roses from around an old stone foundation of a house built in the early 1800s and situated along a well-used route westward. Everyone always referred to the cleared, often muddy pathway as “The Old Road.”

And, my favorite from our farm is at the side of my house—a large clump of Jack in the Pulpits my mother coddled in one of her flowerbeds.

April brings back lots of good memories. It’s a time of warm days, a time to get ready for spring planting and, for those of us who like to play in the dirt, it’s a month of sheer joy.

I’ll end with a colloquialism that the farmers often used in northeastern Pennsylvania: “So long, March. Hello, April!”

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