Y'all. The snow situation here in northern Wisconsin has been a bit ahead of schedule and a bit too eager/aggressive for my liking recently. Last Wednesday we got a record (for any day in the entire month of October) 6.9" of snow. This afternoon (Sunday) we're hunkered down and watching the flakes fly again (header… Continue reading Early and Often.
I feel like I just wrote the September post and now its almost October. I'm flummoxed and mystified as to how this happens every fall. Its here and then its gone and I've managed to complete less than half the projects I swore I'd do. Like clockwork. I'm sure some of this is in part… Continue reading A Preamble to October.
Oh Mother Nature, you sneaky fiend! I'm not sure how to interpret this latest bit of tomfoolery- it feels rather spiteful what with everything else going on in the world. Then again, maybe it is just a distraction to give our minds something else to fret over for a day or two. Who knows, but… Continue reading Not so fast!
Folks! There is bare ground at our house! Witness: Yes, yes, yes. I know there is still a goodly amount of snow and that what has been exposed is untidy and a bit grody looking, but this is PROGRESS! The week ahead has highs in the mid 40F range so I expect to have very… Continue reading Could it be???
All this talk of American Gardens, pioneering spirit, and rewilding got me thinking about what, exactly, spurred my love of prairies. I suspect it had much to do with our years spent living amongst them. We lived in South Dakota, near Sturgis and in Rapid City, at the base of the Black Hills for about… Continue reading South Dakota.
When nice winter days arrive (we're talking anything above 32F, plus or minus sunshine or alternately super sunny and bitingly cold) I do like to hop out into the garden and do a bit of a walkabout. Its good to check in on the shrubs and hedges to look for any early signs of rodent… Continue reading Winter Walks
Guns 'n Roses might have gotten it wrong because we've been getting rain here in Northern Wisconsin. In late December. It is so strange and so atypical. Heck, Christmas Day was warmer than both Halloween and Thanksgiving! I'm unsure how this new winter-time meteorological event will impact the garden. The existing snow is melting and… Continue reading The Cold December Rain
Gardening has taught me a great many things. Perhaps even more things than I can actually remember, but the most valuable lesson of all has been learning to roll with the punches. As much as I feel like I'm the Captain and the garden is my ship, it never takes too long for Mother Nature… Continue reading I’m not actually in charge here, am I?
We absolutely ought to know better this time of year. But things are progressing so well and I finally got everything cleaned up and ready for the season. Its been warm and mostly sunny with some spots of rain... all in all very Spring-like. I've tidied up around the irises. I find that winter has… Continue reading Two Steps Forward…
My goodness I wish I had something fun or exciting to post. Instead we are just waiting around for the snow to melt. Again. It should be gone by mid-week as temps are slated to move into the 60F range and rain is in the forecast. One can only hope. Instead I've reseeded a few… Continue reading Waiting.
We've still got snow. And ice. And slush. And a whole boatload of water that alternately freezes at night and runs like small streams downward towards the road during the day. Today we topped out at 60F! It has been so long since we've felt that warm outside. The dog is thrilled to bits and… Continue reading The Thawing.
'Tis a bold thing to do: Declare winter all wrapped up when there is still a blanket of white covering everything one owns. But if you could see how quickly things are melting with our recent spate of sunny days and temps hovering near the 50F mark... it surely feels like Spring is on the… Continue reading Winter Wrap Up.
Well, at least the calendar is telling me its finally spring. The scene outside my window tells another tale, one of a surly and stubborn winter that is reticent to loosen its grip. Alas! Mother Nature is giving us warm-ish temperatures (40-50F) and intermittent sunshine and both are doing their darnedest to melt the scads… Continue reading Spring!
Alas, the sunshine isn't fake. But the brightness gives the illusion of warmth, which gives the impression that things might be melting out there. Its all lies. It is hella cold and nothing is melting. I'm fully aware that I sound like a broken record. There is more snow scheduled for this weekend. It'll push… Continue reading Fake Sunshine.
There are three days left in this month. This only means that there are three more days to add to the records. Per our local news: And more to come! It looks like another round of snow again on Tuesday. You can see how much more snow this latest round dropped. There's nary a foot… Continue reading One For the Record Books.
It is Saturday morning and it is snowing, yet again. Yesterday I got a cortisone shot into my shoulder joint (not as fun as it sounds) and on the way home, Rich and I drove past the small family owned seed and greenhouse in town. Its not more than a small metal building for the… Continue reading Snow, Snowy, Snowing.
Yep. That was me. Begging for snow to a) insulate the plants from the bracing cold and b) make sure we had enough for a good, proper Spring melt. Whelp, I got what I asked for! 10 inches fell Tuesday with another 6-12 inches that is currently falling. It seems that winter isn't fully winter… Continue reading Did Someone Ask for Snow?
Hoo Boy! You want some moody weather? Come here to the Upper Midwest where today we were colder than Antarctica (it was -11F there, we had -14F!) and by the weekend we are slated to have +42F and rain followed yet again by single digits and snow. I know the old joke was always, "If… Continue reading A Capricious Winter.
You read that right! Melting snow and 40F (plus!) temps in Wisconsin in January. What madness is this? Surely this is a sign of a changing climate- our average high is usually 20ishF and lows around 4F. Consistently cold, sometimes downright bitter. And snowy. Always snowy. Yet here we are, a week into above freezing… Continue reading A January Thaw.
