Winter Weather at Last!

Did you notice the growing season starting earlier for your garden last year?  It did in our little corner of the world.  And just yesterday, right before our January ice storm, I was still picking warm season leaf lettuce and cilantro from the garden.  Along with organic gardening, we've been learning about the changing hardiness zones that have shifted in recent years.

Now that winter finally looks and feels more like winter in our neck of the woods, it's probably not the best time to try convincing my doubting friends that climate change is a real concern.



For one thing, day-to-day weather that tv meteorologists make their living telling us about is not exactly the same thing as climate, as outline in this National Weather Service primer.  TV weather folks seem to be constantly focused on the immediate.  Who can blame them?  They remain popular by warning us to stay safely off icy roads and by gleefully announcing school closings.  Who would like them if they actually tied weather extremes into the big picture and told us about lifestyle and business changes we'd have to make if we cared about slowing down the most drastic effects of climate change?

As we're huddled indoors, watching a frozen world, it's hard to think about ordering seeds and preparing to plant the warm-season garden earlier this year.  I left the garden gate open in case I need to return to the compost bin.  Otherwise I'd find it frozen shut.