Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Hard To Believe . . .

No, dear readers, I'm very happy to report that this is NOT the scene outside my window this morning . . .

. . . rather it was taken one year ago yesterday.

This is what the same view looks like this morning.

I've mentioned often in this blog what an early spring we've had this year (and are thoroughly appreciating and enjoying, thank you very much!), but the picture from last year proves that what we've experiencing this year is not the norm.

My daughter has a picture on her current blog post that is even more dramatic than mine. Go take a peek . . . it's amazing.

9 comments:

Katidids said...

Glad its spring up your way, winter was so long.

Conny said...

Snow this late in April would be no fun, no fun at all. Glad yours is a green Spring day. And yes, the photo on your daughter's blog is quite a dramatic example. What are the daytime temps up North this week?

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Katie - We so seldom get any real spring at all (we usually go right from melting winter snow one day to into the 70s the next!) that we are all REEEEALLY enjoying it this year!

Hey, Conny - Today is cooler than it has been lately. Only 40.9 degrees now at 12:45 p.m. But it's been cloudy and overcast all morning. The last couple of days, we've been working outside in shirt sleeves and it's probably been in the 60s in the sun. Our daughter is quite a bit farther inland and her temps will usually be 8-10 degrees higher than ours. Nights it's still falling down to 28-32 degrees. Ice on the chicken's outside waterer in the morning.

Erin said...

Taking bets now that the year we move up there it will be a really long, cold winter since I just know that we will be living in something completely uninsulated and inappropriate the first year, lol! That's how it goes, I'll make sure to warn you before we move so you can stock up that woodpile :)

Judy said...

Phew! You scared me with that first picture.

Mama Pea said...

Hey, Erin - I think it's an unwritten law or rule of passage that every Minnesota homesteading family has to endure their first year coping with various forms of unpreparedness!! Don't worry . . . settle close enough and we'll all take care of you.

Hi, Judy - Yeah, I know. It was kind of mean, wasn't it? But it got your attention!

MaineCelt said...

Crazy early Spring here, too. (I'm not sure why I like to capitalize it, but I suspect my Northerness makes me regard the season with reverence!)

My big question--which nobody local seems able or willing to answer--is what the early warmth has done to the edible fiddlehead population. I haven't been able to carve out time to go looking for them myself, but I'm really hoping to eat some locally-harvested ones and I'd love to be able to cut them myself!

But NOBODY's talking... I know these things are fiercely guarded, so I'm afraid the fiddlehead harvesters will sneak onto out back land and harvest them before I've even figured out where to look!

Mama Pea said...

Hi, MaineCelt - We've only harvested and eaten fiddleheads once. I'm sure we must have gotten them at the wrong stage (too late?) because they tasted very mucilaginous and I have no desire to taste them again! (How's that for being narrow-minded?)

MaineCelt said...

Hmmm. Sorry you didn't enjoy them. I've heard the taste described variously as a combination of any of these: broccoli, asparagus, okra, and mushrooms. All the ones I've had were more asparagus-broccoli, and we cooked them the same way we enjoy these other veggies: washed well to remove any clinging critters or grit, then steamed just a little past "al dente." Serve 'em up with butter and a little cider vinegar. Mighty fine... guess I better put on my boots and start searchin'!