A Balmy December

Photo Provided by Becky Nelson
The weather forecasts show a “normal” temperature pattern coming next week to our area with high temps in the 30s and lows in the 20s. I am happy about that. The balmy December we have been enjoying is not real wonderful for us at the farm.

For any wreath makers out there, you know we like to have the trees in dormancy when the tips are cut to make those beautiful additions to your house. Not only is there less sap (pitch) when working with frozen greenery, but it seems to hold onto its needles better when cold. And when it comes to Christmas trees, not only is this dormancy preferable so they don’t lose a lot of moisture, but it is hard to get into some growing spots, with muddy ruts a lot harder to navigate than frozen soil. This has been tough in these parts, as we have had very little freezing weather so far this fall. Winter doesn’t hit the calendar until the 21st, but fall is usually a time of great temperature flux around here. This one has been balmy.

We also need our forests to go into dormancy. The maple trees will be asked to jog a sap flow in a matter of months, and we like to see them go into a deep sleep before then. We need the forest trails and roads to freeze, too, so we can get into the deep woods without muddying the trails and damaging the byways. It is impossible to reach some of the areas we need to reach for woods maintenance when the weather is mild as we bog down in muddy spaces and it does neither our equipment or the forest floor any favors rutting up the woods. Send a couple of 4-wheelers through, and the damage is done more quickly. Snowmobiles leave little evidence of their appearance in the woods if things are frozen.

For anyone loving winter sports, ski areas are struggling to make enough snow despite the really early start to the season, with most areas showing only a quarter (or less) of their trails open and the winter trails are bare of snow making snowmobile users a little blue. We have gotten plenty of rain, however, which is a very good thing for our wells. Coming out of a two year stretch of drought and near drought, the water table has had a chance to regenerate a little bit. This will be a great boon in the deep of winter, as dug wells will be full of water and less likely to run dry.

It is odd to look out on the lawns and fields at the farm and see green grass, or go to the tree landing and see a sea of mud with green grass poking through in spots. This most resilient of vegetation is always the last to give up its chlorophyl, but things seem a little more green than usual to me. I may just be mis-remembering, as I seem to do the older I get. When I sit and think hard about Decembers past, the ones most memorable are the snowy, cold and blowy ones, not the brown and green ones. So…to make myself feel better about what I was remembering of cold weather, I went to the researchers.

I briefly glanced at a study out of the Carsey Center at the University of New Hampshire that says winters in New Hampshire have warmed more than four degrees on average, which is having a tremendous impact on winter activities. Hmmm. I need to dig into this a little deeper when I have time, but it certainly makes me feel that my memory serves me correctly and “new” winters are warmer than the old ones. The snowy and white Christmases I remember of long ago may soon be a nothing but history and a recollection. The report says the last two decades have been the warmest on record. My memories aren’t as skewed as I thought they might be. Climate change has happened. We may have a whole slew of “new normals” going forward. I’ll write again of this after I take a few minutes and dig into the subject a bit deeper. Until then, I will enjoy not wearing my woolies while making those wreaths and will pull on my mud boots when working with the Christmas trees.