To be honest, I don't mind it. As long as our house is warm, I love it, even when it's this cold. I love it when the river is frozen in glassy green ripples and the branches are white with ice. It looks, as Briton pointed out the other morning driving through a tunnel of snow dusted pines, like Narnia. He's right. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Mr. Tumnus strolled by our front door with his umbrella and his arms full of packages.
And yesterday, amidst the cold and the ice and the snow, the first seed catalogs came in my email. Which was perfect timing, because all week I've been dreaming of gardens and bees and spring. Not because I am ready for it but because it's the perfect thing to do on a very cold afternoon.
We have lots of plans for spring. Probably too many plans. Maple syrup and honeybees and gardens and chickens, both for eggs and for meat. And secretly I'm wondering if we could slip a runner duck in there. Because I love runner ducks. How can you not? There has been lots of reading, old favorites and new resources. Thumbing through beekeeping catalogs, weighing the options - pre-built, flat packed or DIY. And weighing that against the need to also build a coop and several raised beds and, oh yes, an evaporator for the syrup. So many plans.
It may be too much for the first year, but we will try. For now, while it's too cold (too, too cold) to do much yet beyond lists and plans and ideas, so we make lists and plans and come up with ideas. So many ideas. So many plans.