We are no strangers to amazing wildlife at the garden center, we have several ospreys that catch fish in the river all day, coyotes that play on our freshly screened topsoil pile, snapping turtles in our pond that more resembles a boulder than a turtle shell, and even a Blue Herron that we’ve had up and close personal encounter with INSIDE our greenhouse. That is a story within itself! We recently had the coolest visitor ever; a bald eagle! That is the first time I have ever seen one on the property and it was so close for everyone to get a good look! For 10-15 minutes the eagle calmly perched at the top of the big weeping beech tree, it seemed like it was watching over us. Our cousin Harry has brought me up around Lake Gaillard, he taps the maple trees to make syrup and in the summer he checks on the health of the trees. While we were checking the trees we saw a Bald Eagle flying, but it very pretty far away. Having seen our visiting eagle up close, it is amazing how big and majestic they really are. It is not every day or even in a lifetime you get to see something like that, we are interpreting the visiting eagle as a good omen and a sign of great things to come, hopefully, it means spring will start soon and it will be a good growing season for us all! Maybe our Eagle will keep visiting us, we’ll keep an eye out.

Ryan Van Wilgen