It’s snowing. We are well into April and it’s snowing. Poor man’s fertilizer is what they called it when I was growing up; that little cover of snow just when things are looking like winter is done. It only lasts a day, the warmer ground and air temperatures see to that, and usually we are delighted once it melts revealing green grass, like magic, thus the poor man’s fertilizer.
Welcome to Mud Season
At this time of year, we hesitate to finally breathe the phrase “Spring is here” thus angering the weather gods with our smugness. A sure way to predict a snowstorm. But with the birds returning and the garden sporting little sprouts, the change of seasons is finally settling in, no denying it. My favorite time of year. The grass is not yet greened up, but a few sunny days will take care of that. The potholes seem to be the only thing growing with gusto; our road is pocked with craters so large we can barely creep along without ruining our suspension. The spring rains have started, and with the frost leaving the ground that means one thing – welcome to Mud Season in the Green Mountain State. Mud Season with snow on top can be more fun than Mr. Toad’s wild ride.
April foolishness
The season of changes, of deception, of being fooled and not wearing the right coat, or the right shoes. We headed out with the dogs for a walk yesterday, thinking it was sunny and warm, but the sharp winds caught us halfway to the barn and we nearly turned around. Another hundred yards, we turned the corner and had the wind at our backs. Now, that’s better.
Muddy Memory
I remember making a big mistake one year when my son was a toddler and I was pregnant with my daughter. I took the long way around on our back road, wanted to save some time from where I was coming from, I guess. My end of the road was still firmly frozen, so I thought we were good. But the other end was in full sun and I soon discovered the road was a river of mud. You get pretty good at maneuvering the muddy dirt roads if you’ve lived here long enough, but at one point, my little VW Beetle lacked the sufficient juice to stop a slow-motion slide into the road embankment and I was embedded in mud up to my door handles. I stepped out of the driver’s side of the car and my foot sank deep into the mud. Quite a predicament. Just as I was about to grab my son and set out wading the rest of the way home, a neighbor came by in his truck and he pulled me out with a chain. Most men around here seem to have a chain of some sort in their truck just for this gallant purpose. In moments I was on my way, and he followed me all the way home, just in case.
I baked him some muffins the next day, because in New England, we always have to keep those scales of kindness balanced.
Light a fire, cook
My road and long driveway isn’t quite that bad yet this year, and it is flat so I won’t embed myself in a bank if I do run into problems. Or, I can just stay inside and cook, and wait for the fertilizer to melt. The better idea. This too shall pass.
The winter stores
If one is trying to eat as locally as possible, this time of year is the challenge. We’re kind of sick of rutabaga and winter squash, parsnips and beets. It’s hard to get excited about the produce at the markets that is shipped in from elsewhere because it doesn’t last. In summer, I can buy green beans at the farm stand and they will keep all week, or longer. The green beans we buy at the markets at this time of year need to be cooked in a day or two, and even then they look pretty dismal. Don’t even ask me about the zucchini. Cauliflower for dinner again, but no one complains about the mashed potatoes, especially me.
Greens arriving
However, the bright light right now are the greens and herbs our farmers grow all winter, changing from chard and arugula, to spinach and kale (long seasons), and finally we know things are turning when we find the lovely pea shoots and micro-greens! So delicious, and there are tons of them right now at the farm stands and the farmers markets. I even found some kale rabe which was allowed to start flowering. So good. Combined with parsley and chives, and the lovely winter-keeping and colorful radishes, we have a side dish that is colorful, nutritious, full of crunch and vitality.
For a dressing, I used our first crop of maple syrup, dark amber of course, some local ginger I had stashed in the freezer, and some chick pea miso I found at the farmers market. It’s so good, and you could put this on any fresh vegetable, use it with a crudités, drizzle it on roast potatoes, a dip for shrimp, really, just about anything. Taste as you go and adjust as you like.
It tastes like spring, and I’m saying that with a gentle whisper…
Radish and Pea Shoot Salad
This is a recipe where you decide how much of everything you want, or what you have on hand. No cucumbers? That’s OK, do you have some celery? If you don’t have scallions, mince up a purple onion finely. Use a green of choice for your bed. Here’s a starting point for the dressing as well, mix it up, then taste. Do you want more sweet? More ginger? More salty? Less of everything, add a bit more mayonnaise. And thin to the consistency you like.
- 3 or 4 watermelon radishes, and other colorful radishes, sliced or diced
- ½ small bulb of fennel, sliced or diced
- 1 small cucumber, sliced
- 2 scallions, minced
- A couple of handfuls of pea shoots, or arugula for a bed
- Maple, Miso, and Ginger Dressing, below
Slice or dice your vegetables and toss in a large bowl to mix. Dress with a little or a lot of the dressing below, save the rest for other vegetables, and let this sit for a half hour. Make a bed of pea shoots, or microgreens, or arugula, and arrange the salad on top.
Maple, Miso, and Ginger Dressing or Dipping Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise
- 1-inch knob of ginger, freshly grated on microplane
- 2 tbsp. dark amber maple syrup
- 2 tbsp. light miso
- 1 tbsp. minced chives or scallions
- Freshly grated black pepper
- Oat milk or other milk to thin
Combine the mayonnaise, ginger, syrup, miso, chives or scallions, and pepper to taste. Adjust the seasoning. Thin to desired consistency with some milk of choice. Will keep for a week in the refrigerator.
From Robert Frost’s “Two Tramps in Mud Time.”
The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You’re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you’re two months back in the middle of March.
Tuesday, April 7, noon: Poor man’s fertilizer! Don’t worry, Full sun and 45 degrees tomorrow, so it will disappear.
Wednesday, April 8 – Et voilà! Snow is gone, and we have greening grass.
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Oh, lord! Just what you need. Everything sounds delicious, especially the dressing. Not much mud in our yard. Either it hasn’t arrived or the melting is so slow that we won’t be getting much. That was some story about the mud nearly swallowing up you and your son.
I’ll never forget it Laurie! I did feel like my little car was being swallowed up!
Sun’s out, eves are dripping, all is good!
Thank you, Dorothy, for writing about salads, my staple diet.
Joanna
I love salads! It might be a side dish, but I had it for lunch today!
A new salad dressing is always welcome, this sounds wonderful!
Thanks Jan! It’s a good one!
This was such a delight to read, Dorothy! While my VW Bug never got stuck in the mud, I remember many a trip home when I had to climb a Texas hill in first gear and then descend on the other side as fast as possible for the boost to manage the next one! The stories were so delightful, and the salad and dressing as beautiful as all your food. It is sunny and clear blue skies here today–quite the contrast from your fertilizer day!
Thanks darlin’! Snow stopped! Grass is greening up. All is well here in Vermont!
I miss my little bug! Cost nothing to run, and while it didn’t help much in the mud, I never got stuck in the snow!
Sounds really enticing. With or without the mud. 😜🍃
Well, we’re stuck with the mud!
Yuck. Get out the boots. 💦
I might need my hip boots!
Ohhhh.
Never mind, sun’s out, snow’s gone!
Yay! 🌞✨
Those wee greens look fabulous!
Thanks! Such happy little sprouts!
It has snowed most of the day here with huge big flakes falling. I hope it’s the last we see. Having neighbors who come to the rescue is a good thing.
Indeed it is, Judy, and it is definitely our way!
Okay, I’ll admit this to you Dorothy, I’m a spoiled brat when it comes to weather. I can only remember it snowing in the suburbs where I live about once or twice in my lifetime. And I’m old! It’s short sleeves, and light cottons almost year round. I love how you made muffins for your neighbor who rescued you and I love how you put it, “we have to keep the scales of kindness balanced.” Damn, you’re good. I did a roasted vegetable mix for Easter and it came out good. I love the mixture of textures and colors. Food is so good. Thanks again for giving me a peek into your world. Hugs, C
Thanks darlin’! We expect this! I always think of the Frost poem in April, and today we were right back in the middle of March!
Tomorrow, May? One can only hope!
Not more snow! This has to be winter’s last gasp. What a gorgeous veggie roast you have prepared for us today and I can almost taste that delicious dressing with your fresh maple syrup. Everything looks and sounds scrumptious! Cheers, my dear friend, and here’s to warmer temps! 🍷 ☀️
Thanks sis! It will happen tomorrow, I think it will, I think it will!
Maybe there will be green!
🍀🤞🏼🍀
No, no to more snow – what is with Mother Nature this year? However, your colorful, crunchy salad is spring on a plate – yum!
Oh, Mary, it just doesn’t seem to want to leave! But tomorrow, I think we really turn the corner.
Fingers crossed!
It’s snowy here too! Not sure when spring will come!
Maybe today Marilyn!
🤞
You have some snow, we are waiting on an approaching Cyclone. Should arrive Saturday. I guess that’s the onset of the Winter yet to come. I enjoy reading your stories of memories. I can imagine you driving along, nearly home and suddenly you are sorting a problem you weren’t expecting. All’s well that ends well.
Your salad is lovely and that dressing sounds absolutely delicious. :))
Oh my, a cyclone! Sounds like you will be hunkered down. Stay safe.
Thanks for your kind words! I’ll never forget my mud day! Thankful I didn’t have to waddle down a melted muddy road with my big pregnant belly and a toddler in tow!
It’s been Spring-ish here, which is to say sunny & chilly. What a unique salad, it looks so refreshing and very Spring-y
Thank you!! It did taste like spring with those pea shoots!
Snow’s gone!
I’m always fascinated reading about snow and mud and farmers markets and the like. Living in Oz, especially my little part that has, as far as I know never seen snow, the thought of the lifestyle that goes along with it is like reading about living on the moon – vastly different… But, the food, oh the food, Dorothy. The dressing is too, a keeper!
And yet, even with the snow and the mud, we think we live right in the middle of Oz too!
PS I even have the ruby slippers to prove it!
I totally understand. As a young girl one of my favourite songs was and still is –
‘Pennies in a stream
Falling leaves a sycamore
Moonlight in Vermont
Icy finger waves
Ski trails on a mountain side
Snowlight in Vermont
Telegraph cables, they sing down the highway
And travel each bend in the road
People who meet in this romantic setting
Are so hypnotized by the lovely
Evening summer breeze
Warbling of the meadowlark
Moonlight in Vermont’
I’d love to experience all that Vermont has to share…
Well, if you come this way, I will cook for you and show you my Emerald City, and city is definitely a stretch of the word!
As we say here – You’re on! 🤗
We say that here too! 😉
Just popped over to see if all is well… 🤗
All is well my friend! Just busy with a lot of company and planning a big birthday party for my daughter!
I know of what you speak. Just as the snow melt begins & hilly roads & yard are drying out, here comes another 4″ of snow. I’ve heard that the majority of the snow fall comes in the spring. Certainly this drought-ridden area in NE Alberta can use the moisture. Keeping the kindness scales balanced is important to me as well. I call the kitchen goodies my currency when neighbors lend me a helping hand. At this time of year, the freezer is being eaten down & the shelves in the cold room are filling with empty jars. Yes, time for grow-ceries.
Love the term growceries!
A neighbor brings you a pot of honey, of course you have to offer a jar of blackberry jam. We like to keep things neat.
A wonderful poetic quote to go with your poetic story, Dorothy. We don’t have mud like this in Johannesburg but I’ve certainly experienced it elsewhere.
Thank you Robbie!
Well, I’ve got mud right now, but the snow melted!
What fun!!!
All is good now! Sun is out, sky is blue, and the snow has disappeared!
The dressing sounds lovely, Dorothy there is nothing like homemde dressing…no snow here but we do get mud after a tropical storm…
Thanks Carol! Rain predicted next week, will get my Wellies out!
Mud season in Vermont…I remember it well. After a spring visit, I returned to home with a car covered in mud from the rooftop down. But as you say, any snow now melts quickly. Your spring salad sounds great.
Your posts are always interesting and full of flavor, Dorothy.
Thanks darlin’!
This looks like a great salad for spring!
Thank you Nancy! It was tasty.
That looks like a lovely, refreshing salad!
Thank you! It’s pretty tasty and one of my favorite dressings.
Sweet man would love this salad. Radishes are his favorite! And the VW Bug in the mud! Yikes!
It was quite a time Nancy! I remember wondering if the road had turned into quicksand!
Never heard of or seen watermelon radishes before, but they sure are aptly named! Like the story about the beetle in the mud and gallant savior.
I’ll never forget that muddy day Stefan! Worst mud ever.
We finally have a 70 degree day today. I love rainbow radishes too. The salad looks amazing.
Thank you! We hit 70 yesterday here, and NO WIND, so I happily went out and played in the garden beds. Lots more to do!
That is awesome! I am looking forward to the warm weather too.
Our friends live in ST Johnsbury/Concord area and it all dirt roads I can not visit them in my tiny Toyota until roads have dried and have been graded but VT standards are not the same as mine here in NH.
This has been a rainy week, so I’m not heading out on some of the more questionable roads!
Good idea Snow possible up there this weekend.
We had rain all day and a few flurries even though it was 40 degrees out!
Glad it was a glancing blow, we got rain and temps in the 20’s
We dare not mention the weather here at the moment as it is increasingly temperamental. We have had very high winds for weeks now and whilst we are known for our rain… it is a constant most days. Still things could be worse…I hope your freeze lifts soon. The radish and Pea Shoot Salad looks wonderful. ♥
Thank you Sally! We’ve finally turned the corner, at least for now. The forsythia and daffodils are blooming, pansies are at the farm stands, and we can officially say spring is really here! Thank goodness, it was a long, grey winter!
Great to hear Dorothy we have yet to reach that point of stability… but every hopeful ♥
What a muddy experience 😅 luckily you had good neighbors 😉
I love these colorful radishes 😋
I was lucky that day!
I loved Dorothy’s description of her mud season! That dressing went right into my recipe folder.
You will be glad to have that one handy!
😋😋😋
I just love how colorful this is!
Thank you so much! Love color on a plate!