Several years ago (six, I think), I visited my brother Bryan in Alaska. En route, I was awake for nearly 24 hours, then spent most of the week wearing long underwear in June, staying in a cabin with no running water, and general running wild. Daylight lasted until two in the morning, and returned after a short, dusky time. At the end of the trip, Bryan took me for a hike to Hope, because he told, everyone needs a little hope. It turns out to be quite true, though hope may not always be easy to find.
It’s mid-January in northern Illinois, and while it’s not as dark as Alaska this time of year, it may be just as cold this winter. Weather forecasters are cautioning that the ‘polar vortex’ may return as temperature plummet this evening. I am feeling in need of a little hope, a little reminder that it will be warmer and lighter, and we can all run around a little wild when spring comes knocking. So I look at seed catalogs and the forlorn spot in the back yard that will become the garden, and imagine June, July, and August. I have the idea that we might appreciate summer even more this year because of ‘arctic conditions’ that define the winter of 2014.
Here are my 2014 reasons for hope:
The FoxPlot still is, despite internet silence for a long time now. I just renewed the domain for another year.
The FoxPlot has grown! We added a person in 2012, then we became mortgage holders in June 2013. It means we now have a baby, a house, 2.6 acres, a barn, and a cat.
The baby is less of a baby, and more of a toddler. At 15 months, she is still reluctant to walk, but I predict by the time warm weather arrives, she will be running. I imagine this means a few more trampled plants but at least she doesn’t need to be carried.
We have 80% of a hoop house, 12×25, to start plants in this spring! It needs some end walls, a door, plastic, and some heat but those are doable when spring gets closer.
That’s enough hope to get to me spring.
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