The daffodils, 7 inches tall on the south side of our home, didn't care that it was 20 degrees for an overnight low two nights ago--they just keep pushing up and are nearly ready to bloom.

In the solar cold frame, despite a month of cloudier-than-usual weather, the first row of Arugula is popping up, unaffected by the freezing of the surface of the soil as they emerge.

I like working with hardy plants. They have something to teach us about thriving in the face of any adversity. And they taste so much better once they have been frozen, yet they live to grow another day...

I'm making another order from Johnny's Selected Seeds, in Maine, today. I realized that by simply reading their catalog, once a year, that anyone can learn amazing practical knowledge about growing food, and flowers, for people.

Rob Johnston and his seed company are an inspiration for me, and reading those catalogs on the long winter days and nights in Minnesota years ago certainly got our gardens and our lives on a good path to success!