The Winter Blues....

It's mid-March and yet again the snowy blasts have gnarled their teeth from the north-west and piled us knee deep in the white-stuff. Ugh.

Like most Canadians I have mixed feeling about a long snowy winter. I love to cross-country ski, I like to snowshoe, I enjoy its beauty and cozy feeling it gives you when you get lost in a warm blanket, book, music and cocoa in a chair by the window. I'm also, at the same time, very "done" with winter, I want a thaw, I want to start my maple syrup tapping, I want to start more seedlings. We wont even talk to the farmer in me, who wants this all to disappear behind the jets of an American Airlines one-way flight to California. It's been a great and beautiful winter, so I'm taking some time to reflect on that.

The beauty left in the wake of the ice-storm 

Native grass field by Starskey's Loop, Arkell, ON

Beautiful contrast of fire-red and frozen ice pockets.

Farm fields towards Elora, ON

Ruins and waterways, Rockwood, ON

Swedish Flower Hen - First taste of snow

Frizzled Buff Laced Polish "Pinecone"
gives a shutter and shiver at the first snow. 

Hoar-frost in Guelph, ON

Picking out a Christmas tree at my friend's place.

Cabin in the Kwarthas. A great long weekend-stay.

"Penny" (Black Orpington) lifts her wings to avoid the snow.

The girls deciding to venture out.

As many gardeners and farmers will tell you, they're at the tipping point of insanity with the weather. Veteran growers, like myself, we're done buying seeds, we've got our lists, my have plans, its a matter of waiting. The painful grey-zone, were its too early to start anything, and you're knawing your arm off.

The best part about this lull in the year, is that almost nothing has happened, until I looked back onto my last two months of life to see, plenty had actually happened and will be happening soon!

I finished buying all my seeds! Aside from my seed-potatoes and odd bit here and there, I have all my seeds ready to go! My plant-shopping list is almost complete alongside my planting-guide, raised-bed building schedule and my supply list. After all planning is half the fun to a garden.

Last week I started some peppers and I planted my fish pepper seeds from Trade Wind Fruit, can't wait to share more on this, once they've sprouted. Depending on the last frost date, tomatoes (my glorious tomatoes) will be started very soon, within the next 2-3 weeks.

Maple syrup season is right upon us! I've been working and volunteering with an environmental leadership program for grade 12's, in which the students learn off-campus in Eden Mills, ON at Camp Edgewood. There they have a unit on maple syrup production and have access to a fairly large plot of maple trees to tap. Inspired by this, I'm going to be stealth tapping some trees in my neighborhood, and helping to teach the unit to the grade 12 students.

With the same program I traveled to Algonquin Park for a week as a supervisor. We travel by traditional snowshoe and hauling sled. We sleep in canvas tents with iron wood-stoves. We bring no electricity and all meals, activities and firewood is collected, organized and made by the students. The students also make handmade leather moccasins as footwear for the trip. This winter-trip was certainly a welcome distraction from my garden-wait and a highlight of my winter.

The most special part of all, is that I graduated from this program about 4 years ago, and I was asked to come back and help as a new leader. I feel super lucky to be helping out at my old stomping grounds, and heading the gardening unit in the spring! They have a fairly large greenhouse, which I'll be filling up with tomatoes once school is out.

All-in-all it's been a great winter, but seriously, melt already!