Tis the season where the ferns push up their buds. They are not like any flower or bud you might see. Instead they are born in a tight spiral that grows on a long green stalk. Then the curled leaves slowly unroll.

They resemble the scroll and neck of a violin… hence we call them fiddlers. They are edible but I have never tested that claim.  Instead I watch them unfurl each spring in the greenness of the Northwest Woods.