Everyone must be out collecting and repotting! I went out collecting
again yesterday in the woods behind our house.

I'm still getting used to the difference in the seasons here. The depth
of winter here is not as deep as it is in Maine, although the cold
weather and abundance of snow might convince you otherwise. Fall is
much longer and the winter is shorter here. Winter does not dip as
deeply here. The shortest days are not as short as they are further
north. The coming of spring will feel accelerated to me because of
this. In the middle of January the level of light felt like late
February in Maine. It feels like it is a month later than it actually
is.

The light in Maine in the depth of winter has a breathtaking quality
that you don’t find further south. In late December the sun barely
makes it above the horizon. The shortest day has less than eight hours
of full daylight, such as it is. The shadows are long all day, and the
sun starts getting low around 1 PM. That’s depressing, but the beauty
of the light makes up for it, at least in part. The light is thin and
ethereal. It’s hard to describe it.

So, here I have an extra month at either end of the growing season.
More time for my trees to develop, and shorter winters, which means less
time waiting for spring to come.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a

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