Deprived of sunlight

The news on France2 TV reported yesterday that March 2013 has been the grayest month of March in at least 10 years. A lot of people here are suffering from SAD — Seasonal Affective Disorder — a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in winter and early spring.

That's especially true since this March came on the heels of a winter over which we had the fewest hours of sunlight in at least 30 years. That was the other news headline. It just goes from bad to worse.

Tilling up a long strip for lettuces etc.

But not really. Yesterday, finally, we had a sunny day with no rain. It hasn't rained enough recently to keep the ground wet, so walks with the dog are a little less muddy and mucky. Sun, a dry but cold breeze, and sparse rains are doing their job of drying things out.

I actually got the rototiller out  and started it up yesterday morning. I figured I might as well take advantage of a few rays of sunshine to see if the ground is dry enough to till. It is, if only barely. I tilled up a long row where Walt wants to plant lettuces, radishes, and other early spring crops. That'll keep him busy while I'm in the U.S.

The rototiller finally gets some exercise.

And then I tilled up the rich little patch of well-composted soil out in the back corner. We plant something different there every year. This year, we might put some dill in there. I'd like to try making dill pickles a the end of the summer.

The rest of the garden will have to wait for my return from North Carolina in mid-April. One plot still has collard green and Swiss chard growing in it (and lots of weeds). One has the big burn pile on it — we'll either burn it or move it in April. The two other plots are covered with dead leaves, so they aren't overgrown with weeds. I'll till the leaves into the soil there in April.

Dill and other herbs might go here this year, by the plum tree.

So there's some garden news. The other news is that it's still cold — the temperature is right at freezing this morning. It's been cold for so long, the noon news on television reported, that people all over France have had to buy more fuel oil to run their furnaces and boilers so they can make it through spring, which can be cold.

That's what we've had to do. We bought our winter supply of fuel in early December. Last week, I had to buy more — a thousand liters. That set me back more than a thousand euros (US$1350). It was an unplanned expenditure for us and for a lot of people, according to the news reports. In our case, however, that much fuel oil should take us well into January or even February 2014, so it's not so bad.

Gardening is what everybody around Saint-Aignan does in spring, summer,
and autumn. We're getting a fairly late start this year.

And we ran completely out of firewood, by the way. It's kind of late in the season to start looking for more now. That's why we really needed to have the fuel tank refilled.