I live in a snowbelt. Well, at least I may have used to live in a snow belt. Now, in all my years dwelling on the farm, we have had exactly two winters without any real snow. So, I suppose our current drought of the floof isn't unprecedented, but it also feels more than a bit off because of the balmy temperatures we have been having.
Normally, by the turn of the year, I am buried in several feet of snow. Plowing, shoveling, and frolicking like an overexuberant cocker spaniel are kinda winter norms round these parts.
My inner cocker spaniel is feeling deprived.
I mean, I just walked outside and snapped pictures in sweats and long sleeve shirt. I wasn't even remotely chilled, and I still had wet hair from my shower!
It's eerie I tell you!
What's even more eerie is that there are still little flowers BLOOMING in my gardens! That's insane for this time of year! My butterfly bushes, calendula that wasn't killed because we didn't have a freeze, and my newly planted poppies all have new growth on them. That has never happened in all the years I have dwelled in these parts.
A gardener friend and I were chatting about this climatological phenomenon last night. The snow and sub freezing temps help keep the insect population in check. When things get out of whack so do Nature's numbers. Last time we had a winter like this we even got fleas! Fleas are normally a non-existent thing round here.
Not to mention the yellow jackets, aphids, and pine beetles will be legion if things don't return to normal soon. There's still time for winter to winter, but already we have missed out on almost two months of normal snow and temps.
That said, this unseasonable stuff has opened a window of homesteading opportunity on the work front. I am taking advantage of the balmy temps by moving up my timetable on retrofitting my greenhouse into its new purpose as a seed starting and plant nursery realm. I have to do some bed removal and shelf building, and those chores are right nice to accomplish in a tropically warm greenhouse thanks to our current lack of wintery temps.
I also am going to get some cold crops going in the hoop house early if things stay this way into January. At the very least I will get a ton of bed prep done way ahead of schedule!
Hello silver linings!
And with it being North Idaho, there's always a chance that Arctic air will descend and square dance with an Atmospheric River from the South Pacific right over the top of us sometime in the next couple months. We've had one atmospheric river storm after another this year, but the temps have been too warm for it to be our usual snow-fest because the Arctic air is over the Rockies and further east.
Me, I am going to do what I always do, and roll with it, even if I am slightly pouty about the lack of snowshoeing in my life right meow.
But, I haven't given up on winter yet, time will tell...