Sunday, February 13, 2011

Winter Harvest

Question: What lives in winter, dies in summer and grows with it's roots up?

Summer and autumn are the king and queen of the harvest--it seems everything rounds and ripens, eventually birthing delights as far as the eye can see. Even in spring we await with bated breath and sharp, glinting knife the first bitter dandelion greens, sour rhubarb stalks, dinosaur-like fiddlehead fronds, or tender asparagus shoots. But Mother Winter is not nearly as baren as we often imagine. She graces us with her own unique beauty.

Harvesting ice . . .

Star projects . . .


Wicked winter gardens . . .

And though we're still tucked under a thick, white blanket, the sap will be rising soon. Probably the most scrumpteous of wild Winter's gifts. And it couldn't come soon enough. We poured the final drops of last year's smoky amber liquid onto a big bowl of snow and it disappeared quicker than Frosty in July.

Answer: Icicles