With yellow, comes greens

It has been a glorious sunny day. My glasses steamed-up when I stepped into the hoop-house and condensation fell like rain when I bumped one of the hoops.

This time last year we had snow and it certainly wasn't 12 degrees, and today we opened all the windows and the door. It was as if the house exhaled; I could smell the moist earth and warming greens from meters away.

I find it amazing that in the moderated climate of the hoop house, a bitter cold winter like the one last year yields very much the same as a mild winter, like the one we are just stepping out of. A testament to the efficiency of the hoop house design and to the adaptability of plants.

Last fall I had envisioned a majestic crop of kale seeing us through the bitter cold months, fortifying our pastas and soups.

The seeds I sowed in late September certainly showed promise; they sprouted quickly and grew sturdily. Sadly, as they approached 3 inches tall, standing proudly in their little soldier rows, I realized I had grabbed the wrong seed packet, and planted tomatoes. Aaaargh!

Even though it was October, I hastily re-sowed two types of kale and crossed my fingers. At some point, I had lost track of them and they were overcome with weeds and the space-hungry spinach.

Today, clearing out the chickweed, I found them, small but waiting patiently to spring to life.

Today, my trug was brimming with greens, onions, spinach, herbs ... thank you hoopie.

What a difference a year makes ...

... and much has happened in this one year.

We remain determined to lesson our reliance on fossil fuels and tread ever more gently on the earth. As well, I can't deny that I am comforted by the idea of being able to heat our home, boil water and cook a meal in the event of a power outage.

Last fall we had a high-efficiency wood stove installed in the basement to supplement our gas furnace. Nine face cords of wood

were delivered in October from Orchard Hill Farm and an additional two from another source in February.

We spent much of the winter chopping, carting wood from garage to basement, and stoking, stoking, stoking. First thing in the morning, before the dog is walked or the coffee is made, we start the fire. And like us, it gets fed about three times a day.

The temperature of the house has ranged from cool (I'll often hear the furnace start-up early in the morning, triggered by a temperature drop to 16 degrees) to warmer than I'd prefer (21 degrees in the living room which it located closely above the stove). Burning only clean, cured wood, at the proper temperature, keeps the amount of smoke being exhausted to a minimum, though even when smoldering I can't smell it in the house. It's fantastic when, outside in the cold of the winter, I inhale the comforting, warming, familiar smell of burning wood.

Robin devised an ingenious system of managing our hot, morning ashes.

The embers are removed from the stove into a metal bucket with a lid. This bucket is taken outside and placed in a metal garbage can to cool. The next morning the still-warm ashes are dumped from the bucket into a second metal garbage can

. This can will continue to fill until we need to take it to someones farm or garden to dump. We have emptied it four times so far and will have one more trip to make.

I'll do a more thorough analysis in a couple of months, but so far it would appear our gas consumption was roughly halved through our efforts. We also have used our clothes dryer only two or three times, preferring instead to hang our clothes to dry by the fire.

Preparations are already underway for next winter; 6 face cords of wood have been delivered and are now stacked, ready to cure over the summer.

$5000.00 for the wood stove, which was a display model with all the fixin's, installed and ready to go

$600 for 9 face cords, $100 for two additional = $700 for fuel.