April Fool's

Today, the first of April, marks April's Fools and  today, on April Fool's, we are in the midst of a snow storm.

This snow storm, at one time, was predicted to dump a foot of snow on all of us spring-obsessed mountain dwellers here in the Green Mountain state. Now that it is here, a mere 4 to 6 inches has made its way to the ground, perfect for some springtime skiing or as one friend put it, "enough to make me sit in the house and cry".

Cry not sweet friend, for today is also the first day of National Poetry Month!!

I look forward to this month every year -- the same way a cat waits in anticipation for a mouse to scurry along the wall. Wait for it.

Wait. For. It.
Pounce!
Purr....

A whole month that celebrates poems! Written, spoken, illustrated in countless ways! It's such a wonderfully contemplative way to spend mud season, that once it arrives, my brain twitches with all the things I've wanted to express and hope to experience through the eyes, mind and words of others.

Because I read poetry with only an innate understanding of rhythm, rhyme and lyrical prose, I do not pretend to have an understanding of good versus bad poetry. Or good versus great poetry. Yet when I read something I like, it stays with me a long, long time. It makes me think, laugh, sometimes it has made me cry. I've read poems that leave a warmth inside me the way hot tea on a cold day, tracks heat from my mouth to my belly. It's delicious.

So, in honor of national poetry month and snow on the first of April, a haiku for you.

The snow falls quickly

Red-winged blackbirds fall silent

The fools of April

The Last Two Weeks

A really full moon.

Stolen moments with a new book. And getting lost in the story.

Sharing food with friends.

Long walks and short runs.

Deep conversations. Comfortable silences.

Belly laughs and kids that giggle.

Hot woodstoves on chilly, spring mornings.

Boot sucking mud.

A letter in the post.

Back to Square One

I am still in bed, much to my alarm clock's disgust.

It's been 2 months since I've done a yoga practice. My body feels stiff, cold and soft. Still tentative after hurting my back in January, the process of healing has been painfully slow and depressing. Now, as I lay in bed taking in the cold, weak morning light through my window, I am tempted to snuggle back down into the covers and pretend I will begin tomorrow.

But I shouldn't. I won't.

It's been a long winter. A mixture of sadness and joy, stress, pain, exhilaration. Now it's time to ignore the chilly air and unfold my tired body from the self-imposed confines of warmth and softness. I will pad down to the wood stove and unroll my long-ignored mat, wiping the sleep from my eyes. I will begin slowly as I stretch to the sky, bend to the earth and will my numb fingers to grip with purpose.

It's a start, anyway.

Pete's Greens Outlines Plans to Reinvest Donated Funds

Owner Pete Johnson says community support will inform and inspire their work for years to come.
Destroyed barn was heart of farm operation.

Craftsbury, VT., February 22, 2011—Rising out of the ashes of a barn which was destroyed in a fire on January 12 at Pete’s Greens is an initiative to ensure that funding is available for other Vermont farmers in the future.

Recent donations through a variety of fundraisers will provide Pete’s Greens with an opportunity to rebuild the barn as a more efficient building that will better suit the farms needs. However, Pete Johnson, owner of Pete’s Greens, anticipates that within two to three years, the farm will be able to pay the money forward and has plans to create a fund that will support Vermont agricultural businesses.

“We have been so overwhelmed by how generous everyone has been and we want this money to live
on again another day,” said Pete Johnson. “The idea is that in a few years from now, we’ll start to put the money into a fund that will be managed by a committee or board made up of local folks. That money will go back out into the community to be used in a variety of ways: farm disaster relief, farm to school programs or loans to new or small farms. We are committed to paying it forward. It’s being given to us with such love and thoughtfulness that we really want the funding to do more good work down the line.”

The barn that was destroyed in the January fire housed the farm’s wash-house, stored vegetables and
meats, vegetable coolers, vegetable washing and packing equipment, a walk-in freezer, tractors and a
significant amount of supplies. Johnson indicated after the fire that the structure was under-insured. He had set values on the barn in recent years but hadn’t added the new additions or equipment to the insurance policy. The result was an under-insurance policy for approximately 50% of the replacement cost of the building and the equipment. In addition, the $250,000 worth of stored vegetables and meats were also not insured.

“We’ve been focused on getting permits and developing the plans for the new building with the goal
of breaking ground in early March,” said Johnson. “If all goes well, the building will be in full use by mid-June which means we’ll be back to full production capacity.”

Despite suffering the catastrophe of the barn fire, Pete’s Greens is gearing up for a successful spring
and summer growing season for its retail and CSA membership programs. Sign-up is underway already for Summer CSA shares and joining the CSA offers an additional way to support Johnson as he and the farm crew begin to plant for the summer harvest. A spring share will also be offered and is anticipated to begin in April.

Pete's Greens is a four season organic vegetable farm located in Craftsbury, VT and owned by Peter
Johnson. The farm's top priority is growing a wide variety of crops to feed Vermonters year round. Good Eats is based on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model in which customers pay up front for vegetables and other farm products receiving a share each week. Shares at Pete’s Greens save members an average of 18% per week over retail prices. Pete’s Greens vegetables are also sold at regional stores and restaurants as well as local farmers’ markets. More information is available at www.PetesGreens.com.

Coldest Day of the Year...

...translates into -23F this morning as I held my breath and turned the key in my car. The girl started up, not without protest, and made her way up the hill to drop my kids off at school.

Coming back down, pillars of smoke lit from behind by the morning sun, reached fingers across the road. Beautiful.


Village cloaked in smoke.

Engines sputter, cough and groan.

Snow squeaks underfoot.

It's Been a Week

So...I wrote this today. Thanks to Tim for being my "editor".

Seven days and seven hours ago, I was sitting in the warm office of my friend, neighbor and former employer, Pete Johnson. I joined a group of other friends, neighbors, the Johnson family, and his farm crew. We ate cookies and muffins, drank coffee, answered the phone, talked to each other and sometimes just sat quietly...all the while watching our volunteer fire department put out the smoldering remains of what was the heart of the farm.

Read the rest of it here, at the Center for an Agricultural Economy.

It Hurts in a Good Way

Recently, I've been introduced to a team sport that requires the ability to get up after falling down on ice, swing a cleaning implement at a ball (or an opponent) and constant running, shoving and sliding.

Broomball.

My hands are covered in scrapes, my legs and hips have purple bruises, I am sore in places that I didn't think I had muscles and last week, I narrowly missed having my eye taken out by a wily broom-handle that got away from a player.

I love it.

Maybe it's the fact that we never played organized sports as kids (does kickball count?), or that the bloodthirsty ways of my Nordic ancestors roars to the surface when I'm on the ice or maybe that I sit at a desk all day, but there is something immeasurably satisfying about throwing my full body weight at a man, twice my size, in order to stop him from getting the goddamn ball.

For those of you in milder climates or for those who have yet to be introduced to this particular sport, consider this definition a friend found on the Wiki site::

There is no known fully accurate history of broomball. The consensus is that modern broomball originated in Canada.[citation needed] Some think it came about by trying to play ice hockey without ice skates. However, recent research indicates that a sport similar to broomball, known as knattleikr, was played in Iceland in the 10th century. The sport was almost considered warfare, with the occasional death not uncommon, and games could involve whole villages and lasted up to 14 days. Writer Hord Grimkellson reported that, in a game between Strand and Botn, that "before dusk, six of the Strand players lay dead, though none on the Botn side."[1]


Yeah. It's just like that.