Everything has been stored away – tractors, farm implements, geotextile tarps. What really needs protecting from winter’s rigours has found a spot in a barn or a greenhouse. Otherwise, it will have to weather winter, as we do not yet have enough space for all the farm equipment we have accumulated over the years. While I won’t wax poetic on the whys and wherefores, here you have it: the farmer is a hoarder of metal and wood, nets and screws. By default, by inclination, by prevention – because one never knows…even though what one never knows rarely happens. In any event, a tool and tractor shed is on the drawing board for 2017…
With no time to walk the woods during summer months, this farmer eagerly awaits the first real snowfall to hike the nearby Sutton mountain range. Back from a picture-worthy trek – I’ve included a couple as teasers – I can assure you that it’s an immensely rewarding hike, provided one is in moderately good shape and seized by a spirit of adventure. And while the leafless trees at the mountain’s base seem spindly and without much interest, as one climbs, they are quickly replaced by magnificent, snow-laden conifers, trees that a single occurrence of freezing rain alternately lays bare or crystallizes in a frigid landscape. It is in this eerily beautiful but frozen state that we found the forest yesterday, under icy cover, along crushed-snow trails marked by the footprints of fellow hikers, a fairy tale vision dispelling the brutal cold. We’re looking forward to more hikes to come: winter has only just begun.
Arlington Gardens wishes you a wonderful winter season and health, wealth and happiness in 2017. We look forward to seeing you in the spring.