Tag: springtime

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

An Ancient Perspective

Náham (Wild turkey in meadow, Harwinton, Connecticut)
“Náham”
Wild turkey in meadow, Harwinton, Connecticut

It’s rare that I have an opportunity to photograph turkeys, as they aren’t fond of allowing me to approach close enough to use a 200mm lens (the longest I typically carry for landscapes). It’s even rarer that they’re still enough and my hands steady enough for a sharp, handheld exposure as was the case with my new piece, “Náham”. That there happened to be a beautiful, solitary sapling in this meadow roughly aligned with the turkey was the icing on the proverbial cake. Sometimes everything just falls into place.

If you’re curious, “náham” was the term for ‘turkey’ in the language of the Mohegan natives, whose ancestors were living in the territory of present-day Connecticut at least as early as the 1500s. There was something about this close encounter with a wild turkey in a quiet, misty field that felt uniquely timeless, as if the exact same perspective could just as easily have been available to tribesmen of times long past. Using the ancient Mohegan word for this equally ancient, native bird seemed a most fitting choice.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Daffodils in the Nutmeg State

Narcissus Greeting (Laurel Ridge Daffodils, Litchfield, Connecticut)
“Narcissus Greeting”
Laurel Ridge Daffodil Plantings, Litchfield, Connecticut

There is perhaps no surer a sign that proper springtime weather has arrived than the emergence of daffodils throughout Connecticut. From town parks to yard gardens, by late April it seems that you can scarcely take a short drive anywhere in the state without seeing clusters of these showy jewels swaying about. But in two spots especially -Meriden’s Hubbard Park and Litchfield’s Laurel Ridge- the immense plantings of daffodils are truly a springtime spectacle.

Hubbard Park can undoubtedly lay claim to the most expansive fields of daffodils, for some 600,000 push through the soil each year. And remarkably, it all started with an initial planting of just 1,000 bulbs in 1949. Over the years, more were planted regularly and established bulbs continued to multiply. By 1979, with Hubbard Park already well-known for its April flower display, the city of Meriden established the annual Daffodil Festival which attracts crowds every year from well beyond the city.

But in 1941, a handful of years before Hubbard Park got its first daffodils, bulbs were already being planted along Laurel Ridge in the Litchfield Hills some 20 miles to the northwest. And while the planting on Laurel Ridge probably can’t boast quite the same volume of daffodils as Hubbard Park (I can’t find an estimate anywhere), I can say from experience that there are more than enough to impress and some might find the quiet, bucolic setting of Laurel Ridge to be a welcome bonus.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Canton Greening Over

Yankee Farmlands № 64 (Farm in Canton, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 64”
Barns and pasture beside wooded hill during springtime, Canton, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Barns nestle into the bottom of a broad ridge in Northern Connecticut, the adjacent pastures already thick with grasses by early May. Woodlands on the hillside have taken to “greening over” as recent rains nourish buds and emerging leaves.

In modern times, Canton is a prosperous township of nearly 9,000 in the Farmington River Valley. Even as early as the mid-1800s, the renowned Collinsville ax factory brought growth and industrial might in the southern reaches of the town.

But the earliest settlers of Canton, said to have arrived there in the 1740s, didn’t fare quite so well. So toilsome were their efforts at building a life in this hilly, wooded frontier that they saw fit to name their founding village “Suffrage”. One can only imagine that, for these struggling pioneers, a time when their hamlet would enjoy comfort and convenience seemed impossibly distant.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Waiting for the Leaves

Yankee Farmlands № 63
“Yankee Farmlands № 63”
Cedar fence at field edge, Somers, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

As the farms of Northern Connecticut settle into springtime, grasses and tiny wildflowers sprout up at the periphery of the fields. In just a couple weeks, imperceptible buds on the distant shade trees will burst into a fresh crown of leaves… but for now, the branches still seem just as bare as the old, cedar fence posts nearby.

Even though I very much enjoy the winter aesthetic in New England, it never fails that I spend the entire month of April holding my breath in anticipation for “leaf-out”. Stripped forests and dormant fields, in all of their unlikely audacity, never fail to brazenly trespass upon several weeks that rightfully belong to spring!

But especially fitting of my Yankee Farmlands project is a line by late French author Alain-Fournier. “Life on the farm is a school in patience,” he explained,” you can’t hurry the crops or make an ox in two days.” Landscape photography tends to demand a strikingly similar brand of patience, equanimity and perseverance… and the harvest cannot be rushed.

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Be sure to check out all the work in my on-going Yankee Farmlands project, a journey through Connecticut’s picturesque countryside in celebration of the agricultural heritage of New England.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Fieldstone Walls of New England

Yankee Farmlands № 31 (Fieldstone wall in Bolton, Connecticut, USA)
“Yankee Farmlands № 31”
Bolton, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

“Yankee Farmlands № 31” is the latest installment in an on-going project of mine in which I celebrate the agricultural heritage of New England through the scenic farmlands of Connecticut. This time around, we find ourselves in the small town of Bolton, peering at a barn and forest-bound meadow over the lichen-encrusted rocks of an iconic fieldstone wall.

Most of New England’s fieldstone walls were built 150 to 200 years ago during an era in which an ever-growing population was feverishly clearing new farmland. Exhausting labor went into constructing these walls as untold tons of stone were plucked from the upper layers of soil, hauled off to the outskirts of the pasture or field and loosely stacked by hand.

These relict stone walls are celebrated for their rustic aesthetic these days, but we might be surprised to discover that they were considered rather mundane at the time of their construction. For the Yankee farmers that built them, fieldstone walls merely represented a practical way to dispose of agricultural refuse. It wasn’t until the 20th-century, when much of New England’s age-old agrarian ways had faded, that rustic stone walls became romantic relics of a simpler, unhurried era in the region’s history.

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Mud Season in Southern New England

Yankee Farmlands № 26 (Corn field in Bloomfield, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 26”
Bloomfield, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

My latest addition to the Yankee Farmlands collection brings us to the town of Bloomfield in Northern Connecticut, where the broken stalks from last year’s corn crop stand in a field which has nearly flooded as warm spells melt away the thick snow pack.

“Mud Season” is the not-too-affectionate term for this time of year in New England. It’s that month-long stretch beginning in late March when the snows are melting away even though the soil below the surface of the ground remains frozen. Meltwater can’t drain through the icy underlayer, so it becomes trapped at the surface and produces a thick slurry of mud.

This was a major source of difficulty in the old days before most of Connecticut’s roads were paved. Horses, wagon wheels and even early cars would get swallowed up in the deep, rutted mud of dirt roads. The resulting mess perennially had a significant impact upon travel in the early springtime. Even still, we here in Southern New England have always had it easier than our neighbors further north. Mud season is far worse in Northern New England, where lower temperatures can freeze the ground much more deeply and springtime mud can hang around well into June!

On a different note, the particular swath of cropland shown here in “Yankee Farmlands № 26” may look like a rather ordinary corn field. But you won’t find any barns or a family farmhouse on this property, because the land is actually owned by the State of Connecticut. This stretch of flatland is a large, designated flood control area nestled amidst the mostly suburban landscape of Bloomfield. Although full-blown floods don’t occur here very often, setting aside this low-lying, poorly-drained area helps protect against unwise development and comes with accompanying benefit of preserving open space. Although I suppose that the state government might grow its own corn here for one reason or another, it seems much more likely that the land is leased to a local farmer who lives off-site and works it as remote field in addition to his or her other land.

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Click here to visit my landing page for “Yankee Farmlands № 26” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

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Be sure to check out all of the landscape photography from my on-going Yankee Farmlands project.