The Ides of March (or thereabouts)

You know what they say?  Wait!  You don't?  Well, let me tell you then....

By the way, when a farmer with a blog says something like "you know what they say" you should just respond with "Yes, yes, I know what they say, so you don't need to say it."   It's probably the safest thing and perhaps it will give you an opportunity to keep your sanity.  Failing that, it will at least prevent you from having to hear the farmer tell you EXACTLY what 'they' say!

Now that I've written that introduction and you have bothered to read it, you're probably wondering now.  What WAS it that they say?

I don't know.  I've forgotten what they said because you derailed me from what I was going to say.

You don't say?  Neither do I!

early to mid March 2018

While I attempt to recover the disconnected thread of my thoughts, I will distract you with this picture from last March.  If you will recall, it was a bit warmer and drier in the first half of the month - until it decided to start snowing.  In fact, we got almost all of our snow starting about March 20 and through the month of April.  I think it is safe to say that 2019 is not repeating 2018 in this respect.

mid March 2016

A couple years prior to that, things were pretty warm in March and we were more than happy to go prep some beds in Valhalla, our newer high tunnel.  Using a broadfork is good exercise, but it is hard on my feet.  We're considering adding a stepping boot onto the broadfork to reduce the pressure that tends to focus on a small area of the foot.  We'll see if we get that far this year with all of the projects we have lined up.

mid March 2015

It is this time of year that the solar chargers often come out to play.  We use these for the electric poultry netting that helps to keep our birdy birds safe from critters who might mean them harm.  I get a feeling we won't be putting the chargers on the cart for a little while yet this season.  This will be true even IF all of the snow melts.  First, I doubt the snow will be entirely gone from the farm anytime soon and second, things are going to be pretty mucky for a while.

mid March 2014

Ah!  Finally a mid-March picture that shows that we DO get snow and often have it on the ground in March.  It is NOT an uncommon thing.  The North bush line of Highbush Cranberries and Wild Plum collects a nice drift most years.  If I recall correctly, the drift started out as tall as Tammy before some warmer weather in 2014 brought it down to what you see.

mid March 2013

You might also notice the common 'brown grass' theme for March.  If you look closely, there is some snow in this picture as well.  But, I bet you there is more green in Eden (our older high tunnel) at the time the photo above was taken than there is this season! 

Mar 11, 2019

Then, there is this season.  This is the drift out by the Highbush Cranberries and Wild Plums.  This bush line has five more years of growth on it and the drift is tall enough that you can't see much of the bushes despite their being taller.  In fact, the drift towards the right of the picture goes OVER and completely buries some of the bushes as the line turns to the South.  We've had some branch breakage in that area in years past, but I think we are going to have some flat bushes there this season.

We have heard that Waterloo is only 4 tenths of an inch away from record snowfall for a season this time around.  We don't know how close we are to Tripoli's record (or if anyone has kept that info), but we are in line with Waterloo's snowfall figures.  At the very least, we can say this has been the snowiest season we have since we came to the farm.

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the snow up against the long-side of Valhalla.  That's about 100 feet of deep snow "goodness."  And, when I say goodness, I mean "GOODNESS! Look at that!"  If you wonder if your farmer has gotten exercise this Winter, just ask him if he's been shoveling snow off of the high tunnel walls. (hint, the answer is "ow")

And, you know what they say!  Because I certainly don't.