There are two types of people on the Vineyard in the winter. There are those who genuinely are angry about the snow and cold. They wish they could be somewhere warm. I wish they could also.

Then, there are the other Yankee types of which I am one. We love the good-natured complaining with friends and strangers. We feel alive in the brisk temperatures and love the inability to tend to various tasks.

Proper clothing is a must as well as thinking ahead about safe footing. I am traveling around in my always reliable 1988 F-150. Loaded with cord wood for weight, the bed also is home to ice picks, shovels, kitty litter for traction and a pair of ski poles. Don’t forget my snowbelt upbringing and super prepared parents.

There has been some serious trudging. I have a barn cat who lives at my big vegetable garden. He is all set with shelter and a cozy bed. I make my way to feed and water him daily — no small task.

I confess I’ve been spoiling him with chicken livers and meat scraps mixed in his boring kibble. He pays me back in spring and summer with significant rodent patrol.

Sadly, the hens are now confined to their coop. I shoveled them a large outdoor area with hay and wood ash for footing. Over the weekend a Cooper’s hawk killed my favorite Buff Orpington. I’m sure the poor thing was hungry, but seriously?

Now, the hens are imprisoned until I can rig a proper netting for protection.

The blizzard a few weeks ago blew the door off of my large storage greenhouse. Huge amounts of snow blew in and promptly froze my stored fertilizers and potting soils. I fear for the figs and agapanthus stored in that spot. They hate the single digits. Oh, well! Such is life.

The leeks and onions germinated in less than a week on the propagating mat. Hope springs eternal.

I planted several flats of field peas which have grown into delicious shoots. They make a wonderful winter salad with alfalfa and fenugreek sprouts. I pour off the vinegar from my home-canned dilly beans, add good olive oil and dress the shoots and sprouts with them.

At the end of summer, I cored and washed quite a few plum tomatoes and tossed them into the freezer. Recently, I ran some under hot water which immediately removed the skins. I usually cook them down at a slow simmer in the crock pot. I was pressed for time so I put them into the oven in a large cast-iron skillet. They came out in an hour looking exactly like sun-dried tomatoes. I added some pesto and voila! a quick pizza on some Boboli bread.

I’m sorry to report that I missed New England Grows this year. It was held Feb. 4 to 6 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. I saw that Doug Tallamy was one of the speakers. He gets around. I read an article in the Thursday’s New York Times’ home section about him. He was the keynote speaker at this year’s Plant-O-Rama in Brooklyn. Mr. Tallamy is a professor and chairman of the department of entomology and wildlife ecology at the University of Delaware.

I’ve been pondering this quote from him: “In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water.”

I have a large extended family. Dad was one of 12 children and Mom was one of five. Most of them are Catholic — we were not — Evangelical United Brethren was the only church in Rew. We belonged.

Where was I? Oh, Catholics. I am a big admirer of Pope Francis, a Jesuit. Being a lifelong lefty, I am in agreement with their politics, liberation theology and work with the poor, both socially and economically.

I was pleased recently to see that the Pope has formally ratified the martyrdom of Salvadorian Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was shot to death saying Mass in 1980. He was assassinated by a right-wing death squad tied to the party which ruled El Salvador from 1989 to 2009.

The Pope took action immediately after he succeeded Benedict. The more conservative pontiff and many others viewed the archbishop as a revolutionary leftist, as opposed to doing his duty on behalf of the poor. Way to go, Francis!