Real Winter

Heh. I have to say, after a few years of weak winters, this is a real winter. Frozen ponds, snow that stays around for a couple weeks, icy everywhere, no bike riding, going through a mountain of firewood and a tanker truck of fuel oil, I'm very much looking forward to spring. Along those lines, I've been keeping a look out for the return of robins. Yeah, sounds g-hey, but I'm one of those people that look for signs. The past few years I've kept track. Usually, its the first or second week of february. Last year, they never flew south... stuck around all winter. I saw two robins on Monday, Feb 2nd. Whooo Hoo!



I can't wait to be able to ride my bike to and from work. Mostly what stops me is icy roads or darkness. Right now we have both icy dirt roads on the way to work, and darkness after. I think maybe by the end of Feb, I'll be riding again.

In other news, with this snow i've noticed when we get snow, it melts very quickly next to the south facing foundation wall. I took a pitchfork and checked the dirt in a garden bed. Holy Crap! It's thawed right next to the foundation, about 2" wide . A light bulb went off above my head... I took some storm windows, leaned them up against the foundation, and sealed up the ends with a snowbank. In a week, all the dirt in the bed was thawed down a foot or more... pretty surprising. So this weekend I built a simple wooden frame, some plywood ends, dug out some tired dirt and added some good soil, kick@ss compost and worm casting mix. I'm thinking once the soil is 50F constant, it's time to plant some mache, spinach, chard, and peas. I might be able to start some of those inside and move them out, but it seems 'direct seeded' plants are much hardier than transplants.

-40.