Puddock Hill Journal #7: Backyard Stewardship Is a Group Effort
Life is a group effort. I am reminded of that fact whenever I cast my gaze around Puddock Hill.
This time of year, when I sit writing on the front porch on sunny afternoons I see painted turtles gathered by the dozen to bask on the rocks of the big pond.
A stroll down to the small pond reveals hundreds of tadpoles crowding into its shallows. The bigger frogs—their parents!—pop off like strings of firecrackers, croaking, leaping, and disappearing with a splash as I move along.
On Wednesday, I found a chain of frog or toad eggs in the pool of our new patio fountain. I woke up that night plotting how to rescue the tadpoles that will result. (The management welcomes subscribers’ thoughts on exactly whose eggs these are.)