Snow fought the rain, and so far, the snow won.
melt-off
This winter in a couple hours
This is the difference that a few days, or even a couple of hours, can make with our everchanging weather. Not the greatest illustration, and in reverse order (the snow shows up better on the right side of the photo): on the right, 9:30 am, after overnight snow blanketed the bare ground; on the left, the 2 pm view and it’s practically gone. It looked pretty much the same around noon, it took only two or three hours to melt away. Weird and also the new normal. For better or for worse, I think we’ve kinda gotten used to it! I suppose hopping from one state to another is better than getting the real extremes—months long heatwaves, river-in-the-sky deluges of rain, forest fires so intense they create their own local weather, and the like—that are happening other places than here. Whenever the weather’s not wiping you out…be grateful! :)
First look of the year!
Today’s view of the field, my first since last fall! I’m about a mile (1.6 km) down the road, and I do sometimes pop by in the off-season. Usually, though, it’s out of sight, not out of mind for the whole winter. I’m still getting used to how much tinier the garden has been since I left the farmers’ market and the pandemic had its way. In any case, it’s looking fine. Most of it was cleared last fall. The straw-mulched garlic on the left seems cool, nothing poking up yet, I suppose not too early is good. And it’s really not wet, not the former usual dense, clinging, suck-you-down mud of the after winter melt-off (I’ve pulled my foot out of rubber boots trying to step forward in that stuff). Unless there’s a mini monsoon season coming up, I’ll be able to get out there pretty early, to set up the anti-deer-and-groundhog electric fence and prep beds. There’s still a broken rototiller to deal with on the tiny tractor, so that could slow things down. As always, we shall see!
Mushy-squishy
It looks messy in the outdoors. The snow is melting off again, the ground’s still frozen but the surface is mushy grass and squishy mud. Not the most pleasing, pretty picture, but now there’s a hit of real warmth in the air, that feeling you got as a kid waiting for summer. The days are gradually getting longer and the sun, old reliable, is rising higher in the sky!
March field peek
An early spring look at the field, as the snow recedes and the soil takes over. This is the exact moment when the new season begins for me. Seedlings are already growing indoors, planting plans put to paper, things are underway. Still, it only all makes sense out here, with the musty wet smell of decayed vegetation, my boots sinking into the sticky clay mud, wondering when it will dry out enough to work. I see the single strand of electric fence, all that stands between garden and pillaging deer, stayed up! (You can see part of it strung between the gate posts.) Some winters it falls and critters chew through it in a spot or two. Not having to fix it means one less thing to do!
Muddy and brown
The muddy brown look of spring is here. Doesn’t mean we won’t be back under mountains of snow before it’s gone for good. But the sun is getting warmer and the days longer. Once again!
Spring browns!
Snow that had been lingering, lingering, lingering, finally went in the last day or so (though there’s still ice on the water), and it’s on to the Spring Browns. From the growing season perspective, that’s called Progress! :)