meteorological winter finds the community garden

a trip out to campus on a chilly sunday, mostly to check on the mulch cover on the strawberry bed and see how it held up in the snow...it looks fine and i decided to leave the snow on top as added insulation...if there is a series of melts and refreezes that turns the snow to ice it will have to go...the snow has blanketed the beds and the tip of a blade of winter wheat and a lonely seed head of annual rye are the only indices of the plant life that's under there waiting for spring...the start of a new season is not that far off and there is work to be done...and i am thinking specifically of a better critter net system for the strawberries...i have a plan in mind for a one piece frame and net that i hope will make the fruit more accessible to humans while still denying the critters...more on that as assembly begins after the holidays...there is no real quiet time in gardening even though the garden seems asleep.