mid-winter report

Let’s take a break from document hunts, debt ceiling debates and gun-toting toddlers — because there’s precious little we can do about them — to concentrate on something else we can do little about: the weather. More specifically, the winter weather. Most specifically, this winter’s weather at our farm.

I measure the seasons meteorologically, not astronomically. Ergo, we passed the halfway mark of this particular winter at the end of Saturday. And it really does feel like the downhill side. Maybe because it started getting cold much sooner than usual. In a typical year on the farm, it only dips below freezing four or five days in November. The most sub-zero (C.) days that month, since I started keeping records in 2008, was ten in 2015. This November the number was 21. Although we generally just get a smattering of snow in the 11th month, last November we got 37.5 cm (15 inches). It started raining on Christmas eve, and has rained every day but one since. Our micro-hydro system is now running at peak. Wells and aquifers are filling up, easing a (maybe not) official drought on the island.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I will sign off to get my daily dose of George Santos.