it's the first week of march and temperatures are warming ( and, as a side note, warming to the extent that "maple syrup time" at the local county park began in late february this year rather than march because the temperatures at the end of the month, after more snow than we have seen in several years fell earlier in february...there will be more on that in a bit...began the cycle of day time highs above freezing and lows below freezing that trigger the sugar maple sap run came earlier this year...an indication of change? maybe...we will need to watch ) so it was time to wander out and look around the yard...
half the bed on the south side of the house spends most of the day in shadow still and so snow lingers...in the other half though the new york import berries and the egyptian walking onions are taking in the late winter sun and looking healthy...
the ramp bed on the north side of the house is always in shade these days and mostly still snow covered...the mulch that is exposed is frozen solid...not expecting any word from ramps for a few weeks yet...looking for some by the end of the month however...
like the berries and onions, the garlic seems to have weathered the winter weather fairly well so the garlic patch should work out just fine...
when we get to the winter wheat and rye the outlook gets a bit dodgier...i said there was more snow in february than we had seen in years...the issue was it was in february...the earlier winter sufered a snow drought which meant the grain that was wintering over was fairly uninsualted from the cold...
while there may be hope for some sort of rye growth this season...
the cold has had a nasty impact on the wheat...the bed has been invaded by locals and what wheat there is is looking decidedly unhappy...i have spring wheat seed coming...however it is einkorn and notoriously difficult in the area of threshing because of its tough husks...i will plant...we will see...this would be the second whaet crop failure in three seasons, both due to a lack of insulating snow...admittedly i am on the very southern edge of wheat's range, however this is a recent issue...there is the possibility that last year's crop survived because it was just a mild winter and a lucky break...or it could be another marker of a shifting climate...my usda hardiness zone may yet shift again...
meanwhile in the basement there are berries fully cooked...
some still in the oven...
and another daughter ( with a relentless stolon looking for more soil ) in a container...down there the climate is far more controlled...we'll see how the grain does over time...there may be surprises
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