What would a winter column be without some remembering Rew, Pa.? This is the first winter in a while with proper amounts of long-lasting snow to please the young sledding crowd.

We spent all day sledding in Rew. We had some impressive hills; the Rat Slide and Suicide Knoll come to mind. The oil men would plow the mountain roads for access to the pumping stations. Some were more than a mile straight down. Some we were pleased to get three slides a day on, since the long trek up took some real effort and time. Many times the trip down resulted in some bloody faces. We would crash into ice banks on purpose to slow the descent out of sheer fear.

A few years ago I talked about sledding because my friend Helen Green broke her back going over a jump at Sweetened Water Farm. I mention it only because she was such a good sport about the whole thing.

The garden is resting under several feet of the white stuff in some places. There are rabbit prints everywhere. They have eaten all the kale, Brussels sprouts, and collards that were still standing. Each plant is surrounded by a perfect circle of their little poos.

I wonder why the hawk that is so keen to take out my hens isn’t swooping down on a few of them. I actually saw prints in the snow a few years ago which ended in wing marks.

I saw a young man in front of Sandy’s Fish and Chips busting up the ice with a sledgehammer. Know your tool! The same day another man on a ladder was chopping ice from the gutters of Crane Appliance with a Cape Cod weeder of all things. Love that!

The spent yarrow, echinacea, and monarda flowers make quite a statement above the snow. For once I’m pleased that I neglected cutting them back this fall.

I grew a few beds of fava beans last spring. They are a lovely plant. Their black and white flowers are striking and they are extremely productive. The pods hold five or seven enormous beans. I boiled the pods so the beans slipped right out. They still have an inedible skin. Being time-pressed, I tossed them into the freezer with a label “to be skinned.”

I finally found time during these long snow-bound days. As I placed them on the supper table, sauteed with garlic, olive oil and a tiny bit of tomato sauce, Violet had that look of contempt prior to investigation. A willing child, she did try them and actually had seconds. Will wonders never cease?

I forced a few branches of forsythia. They only took a week to bloom, which is amazing in my chilly kitchen. I confess it’s heated with wood and I usually see my breath in the morning. Do not visit without long underwear.

I share a birthday with Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. Those men were born on the same day in 1809. Who knew? You’re going to love this segue . . . Scott Walker’s trip to England resulted in his inability to answer a question about evolution. The astonished interviewer said, “In England, it is not partisan to believe in evolution.”

Let me just go on the record . . . for something as wonderful and creative as evolution to somehow be contrary to religion is very odd to me. I think God is smart enough to think it up!