Living in Maine, we expect long and cold winters. Our first snowfall usually arrives by early November, and many years we don’t see the ground again until late March or April. We didn’t get multiple feet of snow this year, but it has been typically cold. Even though January is our coldest month, February is the hardest for me to get through. I generally try not to hope for the next season and instead focus on the one at hand, but February is another beast entirely. It’s the shortest month by number of days, but it feels so very long!
There are a few things I try to do in February to keep me occupied and push through the last full month of winter. My favorites are tapping maple trees, getting a start on spring cleaning, freshening up a room or two in the house, working on some spring sewing.
We didn’t tap our trees this year because we had to treat them for brown tail moth infestations and we can’t tap them for two years. I haven’t done any room re-freshening yet, though I do have some ideas and plans and have been curating some inspiration from others. I did get a little bit of sewing in, in addition to my daily work sewing, and though the project didn’t quite turn out the way I had hoped – it was a new to me pattern, I enjoyed the process. We’ve also been out and about more than usual for us (which is a lot anyway) as our youngest three were able to participate in weekly ice skating lessons.
But I started something new this year, and I think we’ll keep it up. I ordered micro green seeds and a starter kit to grow them. The tiny seeds were perfect to get me through the dreary month of February. The seeds sprout very quickly, so it was instant satisfaction. Silas shared in the daily watering – he loves the spritzer. And as quickly as the micro greens sprout, they’re ready for harvest. Husband and I have been enjoying them on eggs, in sandwiches, and as a topping for soup. The children don’t love them, but I’ll try a different variety in my next batch to see if I can find one they like.
Tomorrow is March and spring is on its way. I survived another February. Keeping busy (never a problem for me) plus growing some lovely greens, and then adding that small bit of fresh home grown green to so many meals has been a great remedy for the long month of February.