Things Are Better With A Hug!

   Back last month, I seriously thought my garden had met its demise.  A foot of snow covered everything...cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots.  It saddened me to think that all of the hard work put into getting a winter garden in would be killed by...what else...winter.  Snow and 14 degree temperatures are not a normal occurrence down this far south. Personally, I am glad it is not.  After the snow melted, I was surprised to see that most (not all but most) of the plants had survived.  Especially healthy looking were the carrots!  That blanket of snow did not seem to damper their ability to flourish.  What a difference in just barely a month!

  Today, being chilly, was a good day for a pot of soup.  I had made cheese bread yesterday so that just begged for a big pot of potato/broccoli/carrot soup only there were no carrots on hand and I sure was not making the trip to the store for one item.  So...potato/broccoli soup was started.  It still sounded wonderfully warming and delicious!  Midway into soup-making, I thought of my carrots in the garden!  On a whim, I dashed out the door and, sure enough, found carrots large enough to harvest.  I grabbed about a dozen and hurried back to add them to my pot of soup.

  While I was washing the carrots, I noticed that two of the carrots had literally "hugged" each other while growing.  They had twisted around on another in a tight spiral.  Sweet!  A thought occurred to me as I stirred the huge pot of soup.  Perhaps those two carrots were befuddled by the drastic temperature change last month and held onto each other for support!  Probably not except in my imagination.  I have a tendency to look for niceties whenever possible.  After all, all things are better with a hug!

  

And the Snow Came....

  Foul weather was predicted to swing all the way down to the Coast and it came with a vengeance.  The brutal cold brought snow which is something we rarely ever see this far south.  Sure, we may have experienced a few flurries now and again but a full-blown "blizzard" is unheard of around here.  (And I am using the term blizzard very loosely here.)  Snow!  We got snow!  Not just flurries or a few flakes...not just sleet...SNOW!  In fact, Mark measured several places in the yard and the ruler measured between 6 and 7 inches and this was before the stuff stopped falling from the sky.

  While this is surely a momentous event for South Mississippi and most folks are elated, I am not feeling the pure bliss.  Yes, it is beautiful to see the snow-covered yard, the flake-decorated trees and the poofy white stuff drifting gently from the sky, I am more practical.  I see my garden covered to the tips of the plants.  Cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots are completely doused in an icy blanket.  I hope they make it.  Most planters say these are cold-hardy down to 18 degrees.  Currently, we are sitting at 12 degrees.  Hopefully, the plants will not realize this difference in temperature...hopefully. 

  Also, being bit more pragmatic than I should be, I went around hanging double curtains on windows and doorways and placing "draft-dodgers" at the door treads.  Days before the cold arrived, Mark cut, Son split and I stacked more firewood than we usually use all winter.  I am still cold.  My northern friends would be laughing at my efforts but, as I said, this an "exception to the rule" of "We do not get winter here."  We got winter....and the snow came.  So...northern friends....please take back your weather.  It is uncomfortable!