It doesn’t seem fair that the entire East Coast got snow on Monday except us. Granted, it is a pain to move around but it is so pretty and the children love and need it. Sadly, however, school-age children did not get a snow day due to remote classes.

I really am at a loss for any significant garden news. Monday’s early snow that turned almost immediately to rain unearthed some more shoots of the spring bulbs. I even have a couple of heleborous buds forming at ground level.

I’ve been using my forced indoor time to fabricate cleaning my house. In reality, I just move things around aimlessly. I tried, in vain, to phone a few seed companies. Lucky for me I did make an order in December for most of the vegetables, but I had hoped to add a few things. Every place I called was no longer accepting phone orders because of the high volume of requests. I’m loath to order on the computer.

I do feel encouraged that so many folks are taking an interest in gardening for the second year in a row. Guess it’s one good thing about Covid.

Since I stated vegetable gardening in earnest I have not experienced the food insecurity that so many are suffering from during this pandemic. I don’t say this to brag but rather to express gratitude.

I still have quite a few sweet potatoes left from last fall’s harvest. Violet and I have a new favorite: sautéed ground lamb (from Mermaid Farm), tons of garlic, the aforementioned diced sweet potatoes and shell beans.

The shell beans were picked after they had become “beany” but not yet dried. Time did not allow the shelling of them last summer so I blanched the entire bean and froze bags of them. They pop right out of their shells as they thaw.

Back to sweet potatoes. Last year at the beginning of Covid with too much time on my hands, I whittled several chopsticks into points. I used them to suspend some sweet potatoes half into water. After two months with no roots (aka slips) in sight, I ate them. I still am determined to grow my own. After doing some research I found that the potatoes needed to be cut in half width-wise and kept in a very warm place. Hope springs eternal. Otherwise they cost about $25 for 12 tiny plants that come very late in the mail. Unlike white potatoes, they will not grow another one if simply planted in the ground.

I was amused this week by the following letter to the editor of the New York Times. It was a response to the Jan. 25 article titled Rooster’s Noise Lawsuit a Win for France’s Barnyard Bellowers.

“The crowing of the late Maurice the rooster and his successors is now protected by French law: liberté , é galit é, and cacophonie.”

In my futile attempt at organization of my “stuff,” I came across this book mark: “Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” P.J. O’Rourke.