My Favorite Moss

Most of the rest of the world has the usual seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Here in GroveAtopia, our seasons are different.

You've already learned about The Lovely Season. Well now it is The Moss Season.

You might think you've seen moss. Nearly everyone has. But you really haven't seen moss until you've been in GroveAtopia during The Moss Season.

Step outside on a gray and mild day and the moss is there. You can almost see it grow. It is hairier and bushier and leafier today than it was yesterday. It has almost devoured the birdhouse. The fence posts are barely visible and some of the tree trunks have such a lush green carpet of moss you swear they have lost their bark beneath.

Which do you like best? The moss that looks like lettuce leaves? The moss that looks like little green stars or the moss that if you look very closely looks like it would feel soft, but really doesn't?

My favorite is the slender spiky moss that has a little cup at the top that contains a small red, what is it? Well it isn't a flower, because moss does not flower. It's a little tiny dollop of something that clearly belongs to the plant. Fairies probably look at it as a special treat, it being practically the only thing that isn't some shade of green in the moss world.

When it gets cold, the moss shrinks away. We worry about it then. Is it dead? Will it come back? Without it everything looks like everywhere else does in winter. Brown.

But then the temperature gets warmer and the rain returns and so does the moss. What were you worried about? It always comes back. It is our own little miracle that shows us that even in the midst of winter things grow. It gives us hope and helps remind us there is more, much more, to come.