January Harvest

They didn't size up the way I was hoping when I planted them last July, but getting anything out of the garden in deep January is a coup. these carroys are sweet and crisp and we've been munching them at the dinner table and in lunches. Every year I put less and less emphasis on the traditional garden season and more and more emphasis on the very early and very late season. Next year I will try using shade cloth to cool the mid-July soil so as to get better carrot germination.

Great Lakes Blog

I have been reading up on the legal and political battles over the Asian carp over at Great Lakes Blog. When I'm done with that issue, I'll see what they have to say about Phragmites, that invasive swamp monster grass that is colonizing the Lake Michigan shoreline and has been sighted in the Lake Leelanau Narrows. Leland Township has been asked to adopt an ordinance that would allow the county Soil and Conservation office to treat Phragmites stands with herbicides in the fall without the specific permission of the property owner.

I've been talking about Phragmites with everyone I meet both, trying to gauge support for a spraying program and trying to find alternatives to a spraying program. Everyone who has seen Phragmites doesn't want to see it in our township, but there are still lots of questions to be asked and answered before a spraying program is accepted.

Stop Asian Carp

I'm not convinced that finding Asian Carp DNA in Lake Michigan means that the actual fish are there (seagulls could be dropping fish parts) or that it is time to give up the effort to keep them out of Lake Michigan by closing the locks that can give them access. So I signed the petition here, and I'm urging others to do so.

Easy Winter, So Far

I haven't posted one of these NOAA Lake Michigan temperature maps this year. I haven't needed to. In a normal December, we are huddled under a couple of week's worth of dark clouds dumping foot after foot of lake effect snow. I monitor Lake Michigan surface temperatures, waiting for the day that the big lake gets cold enough to stop adding its moisture to the cold west winds and the lake effect machine shuts down.

The lake is still warm, over 40 degrees, but the winds didn't blow that way this year. After a few days of melt around Christmas, the wind started blowing from the north, from the east, from the northeast, making for cold and wind but no reason to run the snowblower. The rest of the country is seeing low temps and snow, but we are taking a break and even expecting a thaw next week.