stupid frozen ground...

It's been a crazy-warm winter. Our low was something like -10F and there've been plenty of days where the high was above freezing. Also, virtually no snow. It's particularly vernal-seeming just now at 55F outside! I've been watching the soil temps online, so I thought I could get some work done:




I tossed some wood onto the pile I've been growing to start a hugel-mound for GAMCOD but then it was time to move a bunch of dirt onto it. Below about an inch, it's all just interlocked ice-crystals. I could do it with a pick, or maybe scrape off the top inch and let the sun warm some more. But that sounds like a real drag when I can just wait. So, I know...I'll go do some sheet mulching. I have a bunch of bales of spoiled hay I can use. Wrong...It's mostly frozen to the ground and even what isn't is frozen at the core.

So I'm just here grumping at you folks. :)

At least now I see the fine print at the soil temp site I've been using:



It's only measuring the top four inches or so of soil. Still, I'm not sure the numbers work out for my particular property.

I guess I'll practice my patience virtue.

I wish I could trade you. We have had unseasonably warm, and I expect it to go back to winter again. I have lost plants here due to snow on memorial day, and it's pretty traditional for it to snow on Easter
BUT! All the fruit trees here are flowering. When the weather snaps cold again, we will lose almost all tree fruit for the year.  I wish it would be cold enough in the ground to not lie to the trees about the season, despite warm air.

The only thing I this time of year is order things, make plans, and start seeds (indoors, in starter trays, on heater mats). I *may* get some okay days between now and then but I don't bank on workable conditions until easter.

It's been a yo-yo winter. We had a crazy dry fall, so we expect a lot of death and carnage among the perennials. Either too warm or way to frickin' cold, and not nearly enough snow to make a difference.

Lots of places have lost their fruit crops to early warmth and early blooming and then a cold snap. West of us, British Columbia has been hit. Growers are scrambling to figure out how to stay afloat.

Because of the dry fall, the ground here was never wet enough to freeze solid. With a small bit of extra effort, I could have been building fences in January.

Taken collectively, this does not bode well for the upcoming fire season.

Sometimes I think to myself why the planet does this to itself, if it's a living breathing organism trying to heal - like, c'mon Earth!! Can't you help me, help you!!! Or at least help yourself!

Then I think deeply about what we are doing, and what I'm doing...and things begin to become more clear.

When we are stressed, do we not typically have altered breathing, or quite possibly turn towards a "bad" habit that ultimately harms us even more? How could I expect anything different from such a neglected, and overworked life form?

We are one, we are all, and things these days are just, tough!

My little individual journey here is to work on perception, and understanding in a way that hopefully Earth recognizes, and can take as medicine in return for all the wonderful "energy medicine" it's given me. I know this planet and ecosystems are tough, but even the toughest need rest and poor thing is getting flogged 24/7 365 by humans, when it tries to rest at night for even just half of itself, we turn on the lights?