These last two weeks of February always get me.
I love winter, I really do. But back to back to back storms…..it’s getting harder to focus on the nitrogen benefits for the soil, if you know what I mean.
Instead of talking about frozen buckets, stuck in ice chicken coop doors, broken pitchforks (because hey, frozen manure ), high energy dogs and horses with the zoomies, and the 122 km island winds today which have me constantly waiting for my high tunnel to take flight, instead let me talk about something else.
More specifically, why I am in the greenhouse picking tatsoi mid February.
I am out here after I roasted everyone out of bed to have showers so I could fill the bathtub before we lose power. I got up early did chores outside, cooked my sourdough bread off, pressure cooked a chicken for soup, and hauled food together for easy meals and ones we can heat up on the wood stove. I filled the thermos with hot water for tea, charged all the phones, and computers, and got the boys to fill up all the wood boxes. I’ve changed the litter box. Made enough dog food to last. I’ve got a stack of garden books to read and a basket of wool to work on. I’m ready to lose power.
Sometimes during these last two weeks, when I know March is just around the corner and I AM itching to get winter over with, I just remind myself to survive.
I will attempt nothing heroic or soul draining more today. I’ve done a full days work, the snow is sleeting sideways with the wind, BUT there is nothing more uplifting than picking fresh, green tatsoi in the quiet and warmth of the greenhouse. Frankly it could have been anything fresh. I just needed some joy. It’s a foreshadowing, as the kids say now.
A small glimpse of what will come. It’s enough.
Love Jenn xx