March’s entrance was noisy, blustery and full of pompous mockery.  We had anticipated that the last of winter storms was behind us as February came to a close, only to be confronted with yet another storm as the new month arrived.  While we live in the mountains and we are used to the fickle nature of weather around here, it is unusual to find ourselves facing more snow with no end in sight at this time of year.  In fact, often I have peas in the ground by now!

Luckily, we have our greenhouse that we have always retreated to as the weariness of winter begins to grow heavy.  All of us yearn for the feel of moist, damp earth between our fingers, and the children’s games have turned to transforming our old herbal remedies into potions.  These days they want to be alchemists, out in the play fort, mixing concoctions and brews with intriguing names like “woolly syrup” and “dog stench potion”…ahem.  Even our bunnies seem to be impatient for spring’s arrival and Lavender especially likes visits up to the house for a change of scenery.

A refreshing change was needed and a pina colada smoothie was made from the pineapple my husband gave me for Valentine’s Day ~ perhaps the most unusual gift I’ve received for the Day of Love.  But it was welcomed by all of us as we normally don’t eat sweet fruit at all.  A decision was made to start some seeds, then more seeds.  I went overboard and stocked up on our seed reserves that were getting quite low.  I noticed that Sunshine and I ordered a larger amount of flower packets than ever before…we can hardly wait to see the transformations we made in our kitchen garden this year!

And sure enough, this morning, with the first green sprouts tentatively emerging, the snow turned to rain.  Fickle March, you keep us on our toes!