A big rain storm capping off two weeks of mild weather and a tiny bit of snow has given us hope that winter will end soon and soil will emerge from under the snow. The snow pack has dropped from over three feet to just over one foot in our back yard. But the back and forth thawing and freezing that has occurred over the past month, while great for maple syrup production, has made the yard an icy hard undulating surface.
The rain then isn’t so much going through to melt the snow but is running off the top in little streams along the contour of the back yard. Over the past few weeks and in fast-forward motion today tiny benches, statues and plants are emerging. We haven’t see any of the three large viburnum for months and now their puff ball like skeleton is emerging from the snow. Each hour reveals new branches that fell during the past three months showing us that there is a lot of clean up at hand.
Each of the feeders reveals a mat of frozen seeds that the birds and squirrels never got to during their feedings. All of this makes it hard to think of seeding or starting a new garden. The plethora of seed and gardening catalogs arriving have slowed to a trickle indicating to me that it is time to make a few choices and place a few orders. It still seems fruitless as there is no hint of soil that can be tilled and planted.
So I as well as the outside are in a bit of a fog about nature. My wife loves this excessive effect of evapotranspiration. When the fog clears, so perhaps will most of the snow.
