Surprised by Snow!

We were supposed to have had a bit of snow yesterday when we woke up, but it never materialized. Then, lo and behold, around evening the snow started drifing down. It was lovely to watch and this morning, the sky was clear and bright. Maggie and I went for two walks--the first one in the early morning so that we could enjoy the freshly fallen snow and the special quiet that only exists when there is snow on the ground. The second walk was a bonus when Maggie's buddy, Spam, came around and wanted an afternoon walk. Most all of our neighbors were home from work, as schools were closed due to cold and icy conditions (it was 22 degrees F). So there was a lot of sledding going on before the children became too cold and had to go back inside.

Dogs seem to love the snow very much. I think that it must distill all the many smells wafting through the air and make them keen and sharp and wonderful to inhale. We went out into the back garden and played "catch the snowball". A great time was had by all.



I've spend some time this week reading from Gene Logsdon's book, The Contrary Farmer's Invitation to Gardening. This quote struck me as something so true, and yet I never really stopped to analyze it before.

"One more reason drew me to mulch-bed gardening. I had been reading statistics (probably a dangerous thing to do, since all manipulations of numbers beyond pure mathematics turn out to be half-truths at best), and it seems that per square foot, homeowners use more herbicides and motor fuel on lawns and gardens than farmers do on grain crops and pastures. Even if this analysis is not completely true (depends on which group of homeowners you survey), what an indictment. Farmers at least can say that they have to use chemicals and petroleum products because they must compete in an industrial economy. Home residents can only justify such extravagance as pandering to their sense of neatness. In their minds, nature must not escape the Prussian dictum of order and duty. Nature must be manhandled by chemicals and machines and, heaven help us, kept arrow-straight with yardstick and row strings, until the gardener has a heart attack or quits gardening because "it's too strenuous", as I often hear. It would not surprise me if the famous philosopher, Immanuel Kant, with his stern philosophy of hewing to duty above all, invented double-digging."

Now double-digging is something that I will not do! To finish on a gardening note, St. Fiacre, the patron saint of gardeners, sits quietly watching over our vegetable garden. Let's hope that he's turning a blind eye to all the hungry birds searching for a winter meal!