Most people look forward to spring. I have mixed feelings. I love winter. Yeah, more layers of clothes to pile on, frozen water in the hen house, icy roads and steady stoking of wood stove fires, but it all makes me feel so in touch with the real world, with nature.
Right now, there’s a two-foot base of snow on the fields, with a crust that’s softening a bit today under the sun and above-freezing temperature. It’s always a miracle to me that beneath all the white there’s dark earth and soon-to-emerge young green.
This spring I plan to do a major nutritional overhaul on the garden. That sounds totally nerdy. I am nerdy about growing things, about splitting and stacking wood, about walking the same miles over and over again to see the day to day, week to week, year to year changes.
So, I’m gearing up for spring and I’m in nerd heaven this afternoon: ordering seeds.