February

Winter is our time to plan and prepare.  Our days on the farm are spent filling on-line orders, creating and testing new products, designing packaging, and even renovating our studio space so we’re prepared for our re-opening in March.  But we also take time to revel in the beauty of nature – getting inspiration from the changing weather and our daily walks in the forest with Hana.

January was unusually dry and sunny this year.  There was a comfortable cycle of days with soft, warm, low angle sun - followed by nights with bright stars and light touches of frost.  

But these early efforts by spring always lack momentum and staying power.  Winters here are really like two sumo wrestlers, locked in a tight embrace, feet firmly planted, each looking to gain the upper hand by exploiting a weakness in the other.  You sense the building energy and watch for the first, almost imperceptible yielding by one or the other opponent.  A slight muscle tremor appears, and we know a dramatic shift is about to take place.

Our signal of change this time was a soft breeze - uncommonly out of the North.  The coming arctic air is the sumo known by the name “Polar Vortex”.  With his weight advantage, he presses in until the lighter, warm dry air opponent starts to yield.  Then, with a sudden release of energy, cold air completely overruns warm.  Strong winds and light rain quickly turn into snow squalls and the temperature drops.  A white blanket of snow accumulates – the final coup de grâce that secures victory and ends the competition – for now.

A few days will pass with little change.  The sky will remain grey and the air calm.  Snow will continue to blanket the ground and weigh down tree branches.  But far out in the Pacific Ocean, warm wet air is gathering.  Here it will wait for the jet stream to slide south and transport it to us as the new weather challenger.  It may arrive as a near equal adversary to the arctic air, or it may challenge as a heavyweight.  In the first case, light snow will eventually turn to drizzle as warm wet air slowly climbs over, and then displaces cold.  Alternatively, a more forceful atmospheric river could push in – with strong winds and rain that will quickly banish our snow.  Nature is never static – so we wait and watch with wonder.