I'll be the first to admit, it's hard to bundle yourself up to go out and work in the garden on a cold winter day. Bright sunshine sure helps, but still, it's not T-shirt weather yet.
With the New Year comes the desire to stamp out old habits, make amends with adversaries and generally chart bold new paths for ourselves and loved ones. The first day of the New Year is a time of reflection and the possibility for renewal — but what about the other 364 days of the year?
“A rainy day is the perfect time for a walk in the woods. I always thought so myself; the Maine woods never seem so fresh and alive as in wet weather. Then all the needles on the evergreens wear a sheath of silver; ferns seem to have grown to almost tropical lushness and every leaf has its edging of crystal drops. Strangely colored fungi — mustard-yellow and apricot and scarlet — are pushing out of the leaf mold and all the lichens and the mosses have come alive with green and silver freshness,” wrote Rachel Carson in “The Sense of Wonder.”
Every parent of a sick child wants to do whatever possible to make the child feel better. But most cold- and flu-like illnesses in children are caused by viruses, which will be cured by the child’s own immune system.
Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office has released the 2024 Crop Report, announcing that the estimated gross production value of local agricultural commodities reached...