Has Spring really arrived in Maine?
Spring, by the calendar, is only a few days old. But the weather indicates otherwise. It has been unseasonably frigid. Ironically, the last few days of Winter exhibited a ‘warm spell’, including some rain, that melted away 95% of the snow. That was a significant event since up here on the MidCoast we had about 5 feet of accumulated snow and ice by then. It was eough to start bringing the crocus out. I even saw a few blooms. Then, another 5 inches of snow covers it up and ‘Spring’ arrives. What is a Crocus to think?
The Ducks and Geese stopped laying January and continue to not produce eggs. We have spoken with others and find this also is an observable patterns on many farms. But not all- we have a family down on the Pemaquid that had taken some of our ducks, and they are laying regularly. The family has been delivered several batches of eggs to us. What a blessing!
On the brighter side, the Maple sap is running well. And that is encouraging.
Still, March can be very unpredictable and there is still time to get the seeds started before planting time. We are hoping that this Spring and Summer are good growing times. Last year there seemed to be some inhibitions. The lettuce, broccoli and other cold crops started slow and then bolted as warm weather came in. The warm crops did fair but were slow growing. I heard this same thing from other Mainers up here.
We have built a seed starting facility in the basement, which should help us get a better start on the garden. We will be planting about 2000 sq feet of garden space this year. We have observed that many families around the area are expanding their gardens and moving toward self sustenance. The cost of produce has gone up in the wake of the oil market threats and less money is available to buy goods. So, this is a favorable move for the local economy– Mainers love farmers markets.
