Winter started weirdly here. It was seven degrees above freezing and then it was suddenly minus thirty. And snowed. And stayed gross. And today, it is five above freezing, it rained this morning, and we’ve actually had sunshine. There hasnt been much of that in the last month.

I took the opportunity of the thaw to get my winter-sown seeds moved to against the south wall of the greenhouse, and then dumped a bag of leaves (which I purloined off the side of the road a month ago) on top of them for insulation. I also moved my zone 6 potted things (2 mimosa trees, my pot of Deng-shen and my two pots of very small honeylocust seedlings) inside the greenhouse, now that it is closed in, and insulated all the way around them with five more bags of puloined leaves. I have more seed for all of them in case it doesnt work, but I’m giving them the best chance I can.

A couole weeks ago, Ihad the kiddos break up more of the woven duck hut structure we built three years ago. It is falling down now, and the stucks are extremely dry and make very good kindling. They took down another wall and broke it up small, but we didnt get it moved indoors before the snow came and buried the pile. The thaw bared them down, so I went out and filled a bin and brought them in to dry off. It’s a good thing, because I only have a week or so left of the kindling I brought in in springtime. This will keep me going awhile longer.

Small tasks, but it’s nice to have the chance to accomplish them.