A Mid-Winter Day

Mid-winter is hard. Actually “mid-anything” is hard. The newness has worn off and the end seems too far in the future to consider.

That’s the problem with mid-winter. The excitement of lambing season is over. Any shepherding tasks are simply a matter of maintenance at this point. The monochromatic landscape is somewhat depressing. The weather is cold and grey and I am constantly fighting the urge to hibernate. The warm days of spring are too far off to give into the desire to start working in the garden.

So, what to do?

My solution is to head to the hoophouse. The relative warmth of the hoophouse allows year-round planting. The shelter from the winter wind means I can take off my coat and dig in the dirt as much as I like. I can even pull weeds! Okay, the weed part is not that fun, but the chickens sure enjoy the green treat.




Everywhere I look in the hoophouse there are signs of life and growth.
Everything is green! Honestly, even the weeds are pretty.
There is the added bonus of knowing that any work I do will have a positive effect on Market sales come Opening Day.

After a while of working in the hoophouse in mid-winter, I have the satisfaction of job completion AND a little taste of “Spring”.
That changes my perspective on mid-winter dramatically!