Hey! What Happened to Spring?

Forget what I said the other day about spring.

A quick shot of the again snow-covered front yard.

Not only has the temperature dropped back below freezing, the ground is refreezing, and it's snowing out there as I type.

I'm not in the least surprised, but what else is there for a farmer to talk about sometimes?  The weather.

As you can see in the picture, it's just a dusting at the moment, but it's still falling.

Ah well, such is the vagaries of spring weather.

A view of the back yard in spring with its fresh dusting of snow.

Those dump trucks the children were playing with look forlorn and lost out there on the deck.

Actually, I'm thankful for the cold and snow, it came quickly enough after a short warm spell that our apple and pear trees did not bud out.  This should keep them dormant for at least another couple of weeks.

I didn't write about it, as I was still in my slump last fall, but I made 2 gallons of apple cider vinegar, which turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  The family appears to agree, we've already used half a gallon on salads over the last couple months.

I would like to try making a little hard cider too next fall.  Basically the same recipe, I just don't let it turn to vinegar.  Should make a nice winter treat.

The two big issues are, one, don't get a freeze to kill the buds, and two, somehow keep the youngest from eating all the apples.  We also sliced and dehydrated a couple of batches, those didn't last long though.