Winter Is The Best Time

The following poem is featured on the Writer's Almanac (http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/) today.  It perfectly expresses my thoughts as I awoke to yet another gray day in Potter County.

"Winter Is The Best Time"

Winter is the best time

to find out who you are.

 

Quiet, contemplation time,

away from the rushing world,

 

cold time, dark time, holed-up

pulled-in time and space

to see that inner landscape,

that place hidden and within.

"Winter Is the Best Time" by David Budbill, from While We've Still Got Feet. © Copper Canyon Press, 2005

Anticipation

"One of the most delightful things about a garden

is the anticipation it provides." - W.E. Johns

I took this picture of our new high tunnel last week before Friday's snow event. The tunnel occupies much of the garden space between Dingman Run Road and the "little orchard." We have three orchards on the farm and this little orchard was planted in the 1950s. Arthur recalls that these trees (mostly Golden Delicious with one Macintosh and a sprinkling of Red Delicious) were part of a package deal offered by a nursery in nearby New York State. Several of our neighbors also purchased and planted similar orchards at the same time. Also visible in this picture on the hillside are the Northern Spy trees. These venerable old friends provided a bountiful supply of those tart apple favorites for several generations of Mattesons and Metzgers. I was standing in the "new orchard" to take this photo. There are 20 apple trees planted last spring and this year, we have ordered many more new trees that will be introduced to Crandall Hill this spring. It is up to Arthur to post about the apples and such but today he's out in the orchard, pruning tools in hand, as he works to tame the long-ignored apple trees.

Happy New Year

The sun is just starting to make its appearance this morning, casting a golden glow on the patches of snow still dotting the fields. Everyone is talking about our strange winter, and everyone seems to have some kind of dire predictions for the growing season ahead - too many bugs, not enough rain, too much rain, too much heat, damp and chilly. I prefer to lose myself in the colorful seed catalogs with happy dreams of what the fields and orchards at our Heritage Farm will yield in this new year.
We hosted a meeting of the Farm Market growers on Saturday. There was lively discussion as we laid plans for the Farm Market on the courthouse square in Coudersport. It was agreed to change the day of the market from Saturday morning to Friday afternoon/early evening. We will set up on special Saturdays if there are activities happening in town.
As a consumer, what are you looking for from your Farmer's Market? Now is the time to tell the farmers what you'd like to buy next summer. Send a comment and make your suggestions. Rest assured your comments will not be published without your permission.
I share with you a photo from an exhibit at the John Day Fossil Beds we visited when in Oregon last spring as another kind of food for thought.