Spring? Will it ever come?

I am sick....very sick. Arg! It is snowing...slush really....and raining....off and on. The gloomy weather is kinda getting to me...trying to think of it with a different view. It is beautiful, we need the water, we are happy to be semi-hibernating still. There's more time to plant the garden later, there will be more time to plan it, more time to do that when the sun comes out to play for longer. Nature works in funny ways sometimes.

Literally snowflakes the size of half dollars are coming down right now! Wow!

There are daffodils that have bloomed, the clematis showed me the first signs of spring weeks ago, but still every plant in the garden except the grass is still hiding. I am thinking of what to focus on this year in the garden. I am going to actually move my garden this year into my front yard. The perennial herbs will stay where they are for the most part, but I would love to see the changes out my kitchen window this year. That will be new.

I planted about 16 zucchini plants, four varieties last year. We bowled with them, literally, at a party. We set up a runway and smashed them to smithereens. They got huge, and we had to find new ways to use them. There is only so many ways to eat them. Every year there is one thing I over do it on, zuchini usually. Some years it is tomatoes or tomatillos. In planning this year with the goal of doing way more food storage than ever I am going to over plant on purpose. I will can, dry and give away the excess. This is more efficient anyways. Since I have the space, the water (thankfully!) and the energy to grow extra for those friends in the city or with no gardening experience. This is my way of building community and sharing my talents. We love salsa, we eat spicy canned green beans, we will eat tomatoes in soups all year round. So the thoughts begin about resources, sharing them with neighbors....

One year my neighbor called asking if I wanted to can tomatillo salsa with her. I had plenty of onions and chili peppers, and she had 10 gallons of tomatillos... so we made a huge batch. We had each enough salsa for our families for one whole year. I savored every bite of that delicious blend...remembering the things I leaned from her. An elder Mexican mother of 3 who loves to cook, she showed me some tricks and  told me many stories. What a great day. This is a fun way to make food for long term storage that is connective and shares resources.

So in this extended winter I dream of canning blackberry jelly in the heat of the summer, and making salsa in the fall. I sit and plan the outings with friends to pick fruit and dry it, to gather and share recipes.

The snow is sticking as of now....I have never seen such big flakes! Mother nature is amazing!