March is a funny old month.
Settled comfortably between cold and frosty February and the colorful Easter month of April, March doesn't really offer much for the Farmer except the hope of green beer and some decent Basketball- if that's what you're into.
Here in the mountains of Central New York, March is cold. Right now, there are huge piles of grey and brown snow, frozen into ground-bergs of crusty ice. Tomorrow, we're expecting 5-9" of snow, and maybe some sleet and ice- if we're lucky!
Winter'Rest Farm is being held prisoner under feet of blowing snow and ice; the ground beneath frozen solid. The Winter'Rest Farm SweetBees are still alive and humming actively in their hive; eating the sugar we've given them, but anxious - I'm sure- to have their noses buried in some Apple blossoms.
The seed and garden companies don't make March any easier to bear. As early as January, they send their bright and cheerful catalogs out, stuffing mailboxes with the hope of a fruitful harvest and the joy of the weeding season to come. These mailings pile up on our coffee table and are topped with our Excel spreadsheets of seeds and plants we plan to order. In our region, we really can't plant much until the end of April. For us, March means waiting.
Settled comfortably between cold and frosty February and the colorful Easter month of April, March doesn't really offer much for the Farmer except the hope of green beer and some decent Basketball- if that's what you're into.
Here in the mountains of Central New York, March is cold. Right now, there are huge piles of grey and brown snow, frozen into ground-bergs of crusty ice. Tomorrow, we're expecting 5-9" of snow, and maybe some sleet and ice- if we're lucky!
Winter'Rest Farm is being held prisoner under feet of blowing snow and ice; the ground beneath frozen solid. The Winter'Rest Farm SweetBees are still alive and humming actively in their hive; eating the sugar we've given them, but anxious - I'm sure- to have their noses buried in some Apple blossoms.
The seed and garden companies don't make March any easier to bear. As early as January, they send their bright and cheerful catalogs out, stuffing mailboxes with the hope of a fruitful harvest and the joy of the weeding season to come. These mailings pile up on our coffee table and are topped with our Excel spreadsheets of seeds and plants we plan to order. In our region, we really can't plant much until the end of April. For us, March means waiting.
Winter'Rest Farm is a brand-new small farm on what is part of a large, old farm. We still have an enormous amount of work to do- including the building of our house! In the meantime, we live in a nearby village, in a small Victorian house we call "Appleside Cottage". You can read more about Appleside Cottage with this link to my old blog, Farmeatlove.blogspot.com.
http://farmeatlove.blogspot.com/2012/04/gift-of-old-girl.html
While we wait here at Appleside for the frost to retreat, the snow to melt and the ground to warm, I'll be baking, cooking and planning. Perhaps that's what's best about funny old March- it gives us time to ramp up, to prepare, to anticipate and to get excited about the coming season...so maybe it's not such cold comfort after all.
http://farmeatlove.blogspot.com/2012/04/gift-of-old-girl.html
While we wait here at Appleside for the frost to retreat, the snow to melt and the ground to warm, I'll be baking, cooking and planning. Perhaps that's what's best about funny old March- it gives us time to ramp up, to prepare, to anticipate and to get excited about the coming season...so maybe it's not such cold comfort after all.