Winter

After a beautifully long and mild fall, winter has arrived with a thud this past week. It was 9 degrees out on the porch this morning. In a funny way, I like this time of year. Living this far north, the days are so insanely short that it is almost comical. The sun starts going down about 3 p.m. in the afternoon, and it is dark by 4:30 p.m. And if it is a cloudy day, the sunlit hours are even shorter. But I like the change of pace brought by the snow and dark. And tonight we have a full moon with a coating of snow on the ground, and there really isn't anything like the moonlight in Vermont.

One of the other fun things about this time of year is that soon, very soon, the tide will turn. The winter solistice will usher in the 2007 growing season. And after the holidays we will take stock and get back down to the veggie business in earnest -- starting seedlings, ordering supplies, drawing up field plans, etc.

But while there is still a little clean up from the 2006 season, this time between Thanksgiving and the New Year is the off-season for us. It is a time to rest up a bit (especialy my back which has been on the fritz lately), it is time to goof around even more than usual, and it is a chance to miss the hectic pace of the veggie season for a couple of months. It is nice.