A Return to Winter

Another week of frustrating April weather. It was cold all week. The temperatures were low, below freezing at night and not much above freezing during the day. It snowed some more on Friday and all day on Saturday. There’s about four inches of the nasty stuff on the ground. It looks more like the middle of winter than the fifth week of spring. The peepers that started singing two weeks ago have gone silent again. Nothing has progressed – the flowers have stalled, the trees seem to have gone dormant again. The lifelong residents around me keep saying this is just a normal Potter County April. Nevertheless, I’m disgusted by it. Despite all the negative spin and dubious science surrounding global warming, I’m all for it if it pushes us to Zone 6.

The front yard, Saturday morning.

The garden, Saturday morning.

During the week my big plant orders arrived – asparagus roots, strawberry plants, raspberry plants, pawpaw trees, kiwi vines, and balsam fir trees. I planted the asparagus on Thursday, the only day of nice weather we had all week. The size of my asparagus patch is now doubled. You can’t have too much asparagus. The other plants are still waiting to be planted. The weather turned too cold to do any more planting.

The cold weather hasn’t harmed my orchard as far as I can tell. The trees have barely broken bud and flowering is still several weeks away. To the south of us they weren’t so lucky. I read a report last week that said the apricot, plum, and peach crops in the lower part of the state are almost 100% lost. That makes me sad.

I started three more trays of seeds upstairs. Tomatoes, peppers, basil, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, chard, and kale are on the warming pads and under the grow lights now. I should be seeing green in a few days. And in a moment of complete and blissful optimism, I started my seed potatoes to sprouting – the real term is “chitting.” I put them in egg cartons and set them in a sunny window sill (I’ll move them to the back porch if it gets warmer) to sprout their eyes. They should be ready to plant in about 3 to 4 weeks – if it’s warm enough then.

Seed trays.

Seed potatoes ready for chitting.

Just before the current wave of snowstorms arrived, the wood ducks returned in force to the beaver pond. On Tuesday after school Josiah and I went down to see them. We counted about ten of them, males and females, on the pond. They are such beautiful ducks. I hope at least one pair decides to settle in and raise a family there this year.

A male wood duck.

A female and a male wood duck.

The last time we were with Sarah and Tosh, Sarah gave us some of her sourdough starter. She instructed us on how to take care of it – when to feed it, when to turn it into bread, how much to save for the next batch. It almost felt like we had acquired a new pet. We were nervous about it at first. We called her several times for clarification and reassurance. Several weeks later, the starter is thriving and we are hooked on homemade sourdough bread. Every four days we bake a batch of bread. It’s amazing that just flour, water, salt, and bacteria can make something so delicious. Our favorite thing is to make sourdough toast for breakfast (I also have it as an after school snack most days).

Josiah was gone most of the week on the annual Band/Chorus Trip. About forty band and chorus students and a group of adult chaperones left from the school Tuesday night. This year they went to Tennessee. From what we’ve seen and heard, it was a great trip with many fun adventures packed into those four days. They went go-cart racing, laser-tagging, zip-lining, and white water rafting. They went to the Dixie Stampede Dinner Show. They ate dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp in Gatlinburg and went shopping on Main Street. They spent the day on Friday at Dollywood. They spent most of Saturday driving home and arrived here at 11:30 PM. Josiah says he had a great time.

Josiah on the zipline.

The students at the Dixie Stampede.

Ready for whitewater rafting.

We had a sad event take place in our little village of Gold last week. The Gold Church was built in 1899 and has served as a place of worship and a center for social activity for 117 years. My great-grandfather, Theodorus Howe, helped to build it. My great aunts attended church there all their long lives. Countless sermons, marriages, funerals, receptions, and dinners took place there. Recently the congregation grew too large to fit in the old building. The building was in such poor condition that it wasn’t feasible to expand or remodel it. So they decided to build a new building. The new building was finished last year. It stands on top of the hill just to the east of Gold. The old church building stood empty and forlorn for a while. Last week Josiah and I were coming back from Genesee and as we came into Gold, we were shocked to see a backhoe tearing down the old church. We knew it was going to happen, but it was sad and shocking to see it. The back part of the building, which was built in 1958 and is still in good condition, will be left standing. I think they are planning to use it as a recreation center for the ball diamond that is behind the church. We were sad to see the old building torn down. It’s the end of a very long era, and the beginning of new era, for Gold.

Tearing down the old Gold Church.

The steeple comes down.

Mostly gone.

It was 16° when I woke up this morning. The house was cold. The wood stove was still warm, but there was no fire left in it. Because we were leaving for church, we didn’t start it up again. Now that we’re home for the rest of the day, we’ve stoked the stove and soon the house will be warm and cozy. We’re having a let’s-clean-out-the-fridge lunch, which actually turns out better than it sounds. As soon a lunch is over, I plan on taking a nice, long, warm Sabbath nap. I looked at the forecast for the week ahead and it looks like it will start warming up again. We’ll be nearing the 50's by the end of the week and that seems almost tropical compared to the last few days. I’m looking forward to it. I have so many things I need to plant. I need to be outdoors. I need to get my hands into the soil. I need spring to come and stay. I need, I need.