St. Giuseppe

This year, like last, on the first day of spring a mushy late season snow fell in the pre-dawn hours.

Remnants of winter ice clung to the coldest corners of an otherwise warming lake.

In the vineyard our growing piles of winter vine prunings were blanketed once more in snow.

Marquette prunings in the North Vineyard

Despite the snow, however, the first indications of spring arrived in the vineyard just as they should:

For months buried in a thick snow pack, the turf in the vineyard rows is no longer ice crusted. It is now soft (and muddy) as the soil begins to thaw.

As as the soil thaws, capillary action in the vines pulls excess moisture from our old farm soil, a currently water-logged silty loam.

As the temperatures begin to rise, each of our thousands of vineyard pruning cuts begins to bleed: a good and welcome sign that the vines are alive and waking up after one of the coldest recorded winters in our region.

As the soil awakens, the plants will follow.

Down in the marsh, the (aptly named) skunk cabbages melt their own microclimate, sheaths of red mottled leaves arising steamily through the mire. They will bear early (and malodorous) flower, weeks before those plants on drier ground have even begun to show green.

And of course the vineyard animals are newly astir.

The killdeer have returned to chirp noisily through the vineyard rows, where they will build pebble nests under the vines.

Bluebirds cheerfully negotiate for the choicest knotholes in the trellis poles.

And of course, seasonal drama unfolds amongst the waterfowl.

Giuseppe, our large male swan, hurumphed his way through the vineyard yesterday, in hot pursuit of an errant Canada goose.

Silly goose.

Anyone who's seen Giuseppe glide regally across our lake knows that this is undeniably Giuseppe's terrain.

You don't just show up with your bags packed, as the goose pair did, expecting to build a down feather nest under a pine tree.

If Giuseppe looked especially proud and puffed up yesterday, it might be because he knew it was St. Giuseppe Day.

Giuseppe and Gina

Falling on the eve of the Vernal Equinox, the Feast of San Giuseppe is traditionally a time to set an elaborate table in honor of St. Joseph, patron saint of children and of families.

And so, in the vineyard, it seems fitting on this day to pause for a few minutes, and watch resolute old Giuseppe defend his family home.

The first day of spring, under gray skies and just a little bit of snow.

The Vernal Equinox: a time to pause, and appreciate subtle spring awakenings.

Today, the daylight hours will be exactly as long as the night.

Tonight, the March New Moon will create an especially dark sky, perfect for stargazing.

An ideal time to pause, perhaps to enjoy a zeppole pastry topped with black cherries. (It's okay to take a brief respite from Lenten austerity, St. Joseph is also patron saint of pastry chefs).

A time to perhaps open a special bottle of wine, and savor the brief lull before the full flush of spring. (Which the blooming of the skunk cabbages tells us, is just around the corner.)