The New Ice Age

Where I live is known geographically as the line across Indiana where the glacier stopped many millions of years ago.  I grew up a few miles north on flat farmland that still yields an annual crop of large rocks, which is why my mom and her mom before her, who lived even further north, were avid practitioners of the American landscaping feature known as the rock garden.  Arrange a group of rocks ranging from two to five feet in diameter into an irregular geometric shape (island) out in the lawn, fill with extra field soil and the stuff from the chicken shed or sheep yard and voila! Ready to plant garden.  At my home where the glaciers stopped and started to melt, we have big ravines, but no big rocks.  I had to import mine from the family farm.  They are gorgeous, big gems of various shades, mostly granite of some sort with flecks of quartz that sparkle in the sun.

This winter has me thinking about glaciers and how they form.  They form in areas with precipitation that don't warm up enough for the accumulated snow to melt.  Hmmmm.  Kind of like my house right now.

The kids always wanted the kind of snow that would pile up so high you couldn't open your doors.  Ha Ha!  They are off in apartments of their own now and have to shovel their own walks.  Ha Ha!

We are used to decent amounts of snow, but one accumulation manages to melt almost completely before the next one hits.  We could actually date our snow and pond ice samples right now.  And the 15 day forecast has only one day with a night time temperature above freezing.  That will put us into the first of March.  When the thaw does start, it will be a mucky mess for quite some time, so I'm anticipating a late planting season this year.
 

In the meantime, it is always nice to have something green around.  The easiest plant, and most appreciated by cats, is winter wheat.  Fill a pot with potting mix, put down a thick layer of wheat, water well and in less than a week you have a little lawn ready to mow.  I always plant up containers with either wheat, which has fatter blades, or shady lawn mix, for Easter decorating.  An Easter basket with real grass is way cooler than with the fake plastic stuff.  Started about two weeks before Easter, it should be mature enough for a cutting on Easter morning.  That fresh, green smell is so wonderful, even more uplifting than the candy scattered throughout the green grass.  And it feels good too.  People can't seem to keep from running their hands across the flat top when it is freshly cut.