Feb. 9, 2005

Well, the groundhog saw his shadow, and we have 6 more weeks of winter. Today we are having a very pretty snowfall. All the trees are frosted nicely, and Currier & Ives couldn't make it more beautiful. I hope all of you survived the ice storm of last month. We were without power for nearly 6 days. Fortunately, we have a generator for the greenhouses, so all was well there. David's boy scout training came in handy for cooking all our meals on the grill, although he found that doing toast took some perfecting. We played lots of rummy by candlelight, and listened to our battery-operated radio. I spent time in the greenhouse, where it was warm, and I had my electric teapot over there as well. Things are progressing nicely. I just sent the Spring newsletter off to the printer, the greenhouse is filling with plants, and the first of the new product for the Big Barn Gift Shop is beginning to arrive. I found lots of "good stuff" at the shows in January. Also spoke at the Illinois Specialty Growers conference, so it was a very busy month. As soon as I get some new articles written, and locate some pictures we will be updating the website with the 2005 schedule, etc. My crocuses are up nearly 3", so I think the next warm spell will bring them into bloom. We have lots of clean up to do from the branches that fell during the ice storm. In the meantime, I am enjoying the primroses that are beginning to come into bloom in the greenhouse. I plan to bring some over to put in a basket on the coffeetable. They flourish in low-light situations, and bloom for a long period. We should have lots of colors when we open April 1st. Can't believe it is only 7 weeks away! I'd better get busy!