February 2021

Feb. 2, 2021 - Groundhog Day in East Blue Hill

The little nor’easter that the forecasters warned of came through today. We were hoping for, and expecting a good dump of powder. No such luck. The weather here has changed so much in the last 40 years. East Blue Hill used to be snow country. I’ve seen 29ºF below zero here at the farm. Nowadays it rarely goes below the teens and the snow almost always turns to rain.

John McGraw, the feller down the road, once told me it was forty below in East Blue Hill when he was a young man. He said he was out working in the woods and he knew it was fearsome cold but he didn’t realize how cold until he got home. I didn’t believe him at first so I looked it up. Sure enough, back in the fifties, it was true.

So Haleigh and David and I worked in the woodshop. We’re building a germination chamber and a seedling rack. The two collies were romping in the snow early in the day but when it all turned to rain they came into the shop and ended up at the house and just stayed inside with Deborah. Deborah says this is her least favorite kind of weather.