Gardening in February in Wisconsin?

 (This post is from a newspaper column I wrote in 2015)

Last Friday we went to the Wisconsin Public Television Garden Expo in Madison.  It was a much needed journey into the realm of green things, and the possibility that perhaps winter will someday end.

If you haven’t ever been there, I recommend it.  In addition to lots of exhibits by people who would like to help you and/or sell you something to make your home and garden nicer, there are tons of workshops on gardening, composting, landscaping, preserving foods, and all sorts of related topics.

This year I went specifically to see a fellow talk about back yard maple syrup production.  He wasn’t a botanist or anything, but just a regular guy who has way more energy and initiative than I do, and who wanted to make maple syrup from two silver maple trees in his back yard.

 My father-in-law, who passed away last June, had been making maple syrup for a number of years.  In fact, though he was very sick and weak last spring, some family members kept up the tradition and tapped the many trees in their large back yard, and cooked down the sap to make syrup.

It was a good presentation, partly because it’s a fairly straightforward process that requires little equipment, but mostly because the young man talking to us seemed very pleased to be sharing what he knows.

I also touched base with a couple of people whose workshops I attended last year to ask some follow-up questions.  Both seemed surprised at what I had remembered, but I was not surprised at what I had forgotten.

In a way it was like visiting the Twilight Zone, with semi-zombies wandering around thinking about gardening, while a permanent cold mass hovered above us.  It almost seemed mean to dangle these thoughts of spring in front of us, knowing that the groundhog literally froze to death.  Well, not really, but he may as well have.

 I didn’t buy any seeds this year, because chances are I’ll misplace them before the soil is visible again. 

My nephew Alex operates a gardening store in Atlanta last fall.  (www.taproothydroponics.com)  He sells indoor gardening supplies and equipment, but also things for getting an early start on outdoor gardens, like grow lights, seed sprouting containers and media, and even warming mats to keep the soil in those containers warm enough for germination.

With our house quite cool due to the fear of running out of propane this winter, that warming mat seemed like a good idea for when I plant my seeds indoors.  In fact, at 60 degrees in the house, I was thinking maybe I’d sit on the warming mat, and let the seeds fend for themselves.

I can’t say I have cabin fever yet, but we have a ways to go before spring.  As I write this the weather forecasters are teasing us with the possibility of the thermometer reaching 34 degrees this week.  Imagine.

I’m glad to have gone to the garden expo, and I’m ready to make syrup next month, or whenever we start having days above freezing, with the nights still below freezing.  In the meantime, I’ll wait for my warming mat to come, and think warm thoughts.