March has arrived!
It’s that time of year. Mornings light seeps in through our bedroom windows a little earlier every day and it stays light well into the evening. Everyone is dreaming of brighter days ahead.
I’d like to say spring is right around the corner, but I know better. Alaska still has a few tricks up her sleeve. Residents of this great state were treated to an epic northern lights display last Sunday. Temperatures got down to -17(F) on Monday. Tuesday brought a winter weather advisory and a foot of fresh snow.
Winter isn’t done with us yet.
We have a long way to go before we can trade in our snow boots for our xtra-tuffs, but Alaskans are getting antsy. We long for those sunny, 45 degree days we swear are t-shirt weather. We want something to do that doesn’t involve a shovel. We can feel that cabin fever slipping its fingers around our necks.
Even the moose are cantankerous this time of year. They’re taking over bike paths and driveways and they are spoiling for a fight. We have a small adolescent that likes to hang out in our front yard. He’s made it very clear he’s willing to throw hands at a moments notice. We’ve also got a pregnant mamma that likes to bed down in the back yard. She minds her own business as long as we mind ours.
Will it Never End?
We’re all just doing the best we can out here, slogging through this last stretch of winter.
Some of us have given up and surrendered to the slow slide of sloth. We’re watching more tv than usual. We’re getting less exercise and staying in unless we absolutely have to go out for work, groceries, or snow removal. Counting the days until all this God forsaken snow melts.
Others are taking matters into their own hands, opting to look forward and plant seeds for the future. Literally. Although gardens are buried under many feet of snow and we won’t likely see any green for months, it seems like it’s time to talk plants.
The local greenhouse is advertising preorders for hanging flower baskets. My farming friend is posting seed start tutorials on her instagram. I had an interesting conversation at breakfast about the cost difference between growing your plants from seed versus buying them from a greenhouse.
It’s in the air. We are all ready to conjure life back into our….well, lives.
For me, this meant heading to the garden isle of my local supermarket. I bought new pots for all my houseplants and a big bag of dirt. Then I went home and repotted five plants.
Four went better than expected and one was a complete disaster. A winning ratio if you ask me. The four that survived got a standard upgrade to a bigger pot, with fresh soil. The fifth got special treatment, because it was my favorite.
I decided it was time to propagate the thriving succulent. I bought it years ago when it was tiny and repotted it multiple times over the years as it grew. This time around, I waited a little too long. It had outgrown its home and I didn’t have to dig it up to know it was root bound.
I read half an article about propagating succulents five years ago, so I knew what I was doing. Confident, the way only fools can be, I pulled that sucker out of the planter and got to work!
It didn’t take long for me to realize I was in way over my head. What started as a plan to pull pieces off and replant them in smaller pots, quickly became murder by dismemberment.
Halfway through, I decided to look up an article on how the hell I was supposed to be doing this, dropping my phone in a sink full of dishwater in the process.
Like I said, disaster.
I now have a small piece of intact plant returned to the original pot and 9 or 10 smaller chunks on a cookie sheet. It reminds me of the time my dad took my lawnmower apart and could’t put it back together. In retrospect…I may have been a little hard on him. This stuff isn’t as easy as it looks. Sorry Dad.
Oh well. What are you going to do? I only spent years nurturing that little plant and loving it as it grew up big and strong. I’m not totally heartbroken or anything.
Let’s try that again….
Oh well. It’s just a plant. There will be other plants and maybe some of my little pups will survive beyond the cookie sheet. You never know.
Do As I Say, Not as I Do
If you’re feeling the urge to get your fingers in some dirt, consider checking out Ashleigh - The Wild Fireweed (@thewildfireweed) on instagram. She’s a knowledgable gardener, lover of chickens and my cousin’s wife. I am a little biased, but she’s amazing. She will save you from epic gardening fails (hello houseplant murder) with all of her helpful tips and tools. She’s been posting all kinds of useful information lately, so check her out and inject a little pre-spring pep into your step
This has been an epic winter. An early snowpocalypse shut down schools across South Central Alaska for days, we endured multiple cold snaps (including right now) and little blips of everything in between ever since. We’re due for a change.
Looking at the forecast, it does seem like spring might be on the way. Though the nights are still bitterly cold, the days are getting much nicer. The sun has some real warmth to it and we’ve got a fair amount of daylight to soak in.
However you choose to while away these days, remember that we truly are in the last gasp of winter. Sooner than we think, we’ll be out mowing our lawns and visiting farmer’s markets.
Lions & Lambs & Polls - Oh My!
Before I go…I have one question. It’s been bothering me.
If we got:
A once in a lifetime Aurora Beorealis show
Double digits below zero
Pounded with over a foot of snow in less than twelve hours
All within the last two days of February, does that count as March coming in like a lion?
Because I could really use some lamb-like weather to look forward to!
Choose an answer below and weigh in on the spring dilemma….
From one Alaskan to another, you nailed the feeling of ‘almost spring’.