inspired yesterday by this photo courtesy Apricot Lane Farms

Like a subtle whisper, rising from West to East, we see the very earliest promise of a new season emerging from the soil and from the creatures which inhabit it………

Every year, I get to a point where I “decide” I am absolutely DONE with Winter.  I will swear to myself, that I am done wearing Winter clothes (at least all the blacks, browns and greys and switch over to my pastel sweater collection), and in this case, the coats, the hats, the boots, the scarves, the gloves, and DONE with the snow shovel.   I want to scream at the top of my lungs, “I AM THROUGH WITH YOU, YOU TERRIBLE BEAST, BE GONE!!!!!!”  The only thing I want to be banging off the bottoms of my shoes is dirt, yes, beautiful, brown, fragrant dirt, soil from my garden, freshly tilled, happily turned, warm and filled with earthworms……..  You can see where I am, can’t you?   I am at “the tipping point”.   I am willing to bet there are more than a few of you out there who are like me right now.  But, there is more to this “Tipping Point” analogy, as you’ll soon see.

Yesterday, I had a little episode in the parking lot of the grocery store where I couldn’t bear the confines of the bulky ski coat I wear every day while walking the dog.  I absolutely abhor wearing a coat in the car anyway.  Like a madwoman, I tore it off and threw it in the back seat.  “I can’t stand you any more!”,  I cursed to this coat!  “I don’t care if I ever wear a coat, ever AGAIN!”  Take that you *****!    I am well aware that this does little to help the reality of the situation, but it does a little good to open the valve of frustration which is itchingly close to the boiling point………  I am trying very hard to be conscious of my breathing these days – and when I get to this point, I take a deep breath and exhale very long and hard with a lingering whoosh……….   Any of you remembering the series, Magnum, P.I., remember that Tom Sellick often said, “I know what you’re thinking”.  So, I know what you’re thinking!  LOL

 and, out of the depths of Winter’s determined blanket, springs the wonder of life; irrepressible and amazingly affirming  (photo courtesy http://bienetrecolorado.wordpress.com)

Well, over the weekend, I actually began this little mental transformation that happens to me every year.  Whether or not it will be this way in reality, right outside my door, I have made a decision in my brain, in my soul, and in my heart.  I am closing the book and moving on ahead into the season where life begins, where the color green emerges, where the birds sing and celebrate rather than bicker over the little seed sprockets upon the feeders and where the promise of renewal and new life is – baby blossoms, baby birds, snow drops and such – I know you are coming, can feel you in my bones, you are pushing forth with the determination of will seldom seen but always certain………  The sun will soon bring forth a new picture, as certain as the emergence of my chives on the window sill and the new growth pushed on my blue spruce – the leftover Christmas tree in my sunroom.  I made the conscious decision while out shopping, that, if I bought anything, it would only be Spring clothes – not one bargain left over from Winter, not-a-one, no matter how wonderful the deal!  This is a concrete sign!  And, as last week, making Boeuf Bourguignon was just fine, it’s not ok any longer – I’m turning the page of the recipe repertoire as well.

It has been a difficult time roaming around the weather stations I have tagged on the weather app on my phone – the likes of Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, Naples, St Remy,  Taormina, Rome, Pienza, Postitano, and even Paris!  The weather in Paris is actually better than here! Unheard of!  Temps there this Winter have been warmer than here, calling me, teasing me, tempting me.  An episode yesterday of Extra Virgin from Punta Ala, made me yearn…….  Often in my  mind I go through this little mental exercise, how can it be that people really live where there is such a short growing season?  Why doesn’t everyone move to the temperate zones?  It’s so fascinating to think that people stay where they are and are not drawn there, like I am.   What makes this happen?  What creates this great amount of inertia that we can’t seem to overcome?  Do we need to bribe the kids to move?  I have been considering this for awhile now…….Anyway, I moved “out” yesterday, out to California to join the beginnings of the growing season there. This is where Spring currently lives.  Behold the pictures of life 🙂 – the actual proof, the confirmation of its existence, right here on our opposite coast! (and another coast)………

Yes, I’ve gone to work on getting by it, no matter what it takes…….. and so, today, I’m continuing this little celebration of Where Spring Lives, currently, that is:

Yesterday,  I became acquainted with Apricot Lane Farms in Moorpark, California via the beautiful picture of their eggs, shown above.  I think this did it for me – ensured for me that we were, essentially, if not in reality, done.  They are located 47 miles northwest of Los Angeles in the Simi Valley not far from Santa Clarita.  I am very intrigued by this location in Ventura County and hope to visit there very soon.  While I am very scared to admit that I think I feel a smidgen of Spring emerging here in NJ  (even though it is snowing again outside RIGHT NOW) in California, Spring is definitely emerging.  Check out these amazing apricot blossoms in northern California:

 Apricot blossoms last week at Frog Hollow Farm Brentwood, California

This immediately got me making mental images of bowls of fruit on my counter at the Cape, peaches, cherries, tomatoes, trips to Union Square every other day, inhaling the scents of life……….  I began searching for farms in California to visit and notes to make on recipes, meals, flowers to gather, arrange, plant, pruning, snap, snap, snap of the camera………

Here are a few more inspirations:

featured in the New York Times, Frog Hollow Farm is wonderful:

courtesy: FOOD STUFF by Florence Fabricant – August 14, 2012

Good Enough to Make Farm-Stand Peaches Blush

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Also, check out the Masumoto Family Farm.  In another post, I will list all my favorites.

As the sun set here yesterday, I was studying family farming in California – mostly to enjoy looking at pictures of their amazing produce and other artisan products.  Could it be true that, like the weather most of the time, the seasons move from West to East?  Or, are Californians just lucky most of the 365 days a year?  I know they are suffering from a terrible drought right now and this is threatening on many critical levels, including farming.  They have had some rain come in off the Pacific over the last couple of weeks.  I’m hoping their weather pattern is changing and they will get a catch up in the rain department.  If not, I know where they can get a quick load of snow or two-million!

I am no climate expert or weather expert for that matter, so I don’t really understand why California, from North to South has a great temperate climate for most of the year and these conditions don’t exist on the same latitudes on the east coast.  Anyone who would like to explain this phenomenon to me, please do!

Off to another favorite locale, Sicily, where life is already in full bloom as well.  The almond blossoms are so celebrated in Sicily, that there are many famous festivals which celebrate this event for several weeks every year.  Dolce and Gabbana even did a collection for Spring 2014, celebrating these most enchantingly beautiful almond blossoms.  I find it wonderful that they are so enamored of the arrival of these days of the year, that they are so meaningful and transformational,  that they are inspired to celebrate them in couture:

 courtesy Dolce and Gabbana

the Almond Blossom Festival of Agrigento –   

Astrid Preston, “Blossoms,” 2012, oil on wood panel, 16″ x 16″ (image courtesy john seed.com

Royal Tenaya Organic Cherry bloom ..estimated start date, around May 1st (photo courtesy Blossom Hill Apricots)

Just in case you are feeling somewhat like me right now, I made this little list to carry me through till Friday:

TEN THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU THINK YOU CAN’T STAND IT ANY LONGER:

1. go get a really GOOD haircut and a pedicure

2. make a Summertime dinner and bake your favorite Summer Dessert – see below

3. go to the florist and buy flowers

4.force buds

5.go through the seed catalogs and order seeds

6.go to your local farm and buy whatever herbs they have and make a windowsill herb garden

7.take out your favorite garden books and oogle

8. dig through the snow till you see the grass

9.listen to the birds

10.buy a plane ticket to California or Italy

From the Archives 2013:

 at Campo di Fiori, Rome

and, in my kitchen:

a good one to feel happy with:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/strawberry-shortcake-with-star-anise-sauce (photo courtesy Food and Wine)

So, to sum up today – no matter what the picture is outside my window this morning, I know that the tipping point of the earth is such that, the new season is poised to begin and, what is past is past –  the calendar is in our favor now.  So, go along today and chuckle to yourself as I plan to – have a knowing spirit in your heart – one which has a promise, a turn, a new breath.  For, because of the date, because of the tilt of the earth, because of the sound of the birds, we can know that it can’t be long now.  Perhaps, just perhaps, it is just a few days until the change will begin in a more tangible form, the snow will melt, maybe it’ll take awhile longer than we’d like, but gone it shall be soon ……  I’m going with this anyway, I’m not turning back – I’ve officially gone past the Tipping Point!

In the oven as we speak:  Ina Garten’s Corn Muffins – an all-time favorite – http://www.barefootcontessa.com/recipes.aspx?RecipeID=315&S=0

these smell heavenly!

  light as a feather – I used 3/4 cup heavy cream and 3/4 cup 1% milk

  another example of the “irrepressible” –  shoots of chives – I’ve cut them a few times already and they are pushing new growth daily 🙂