Winter Sustenance

With all the snow we've had, the creatures outside still need to eat. Amy has been filling our bird feeders almost daily, which is not an easy task when the snow is up to her hip. Even in the middle of the snowstorms the chickadees, nuthatches and other birds have been swarming to the seed feeders, and the juncos and other ground-feeding birds have been picking up what falls to the ground. After our last snowfall the squirrels had a feast -- the snow was up to the bottom of the bird feeder outside my window, and squirrels could sit and happily scoop seed out to their heart's contentment.

Sarah spotted this rabbit out my window at about 11:00 at night. We had turned out the outside floodlight to watch the snow start, and as we watched the flakes come down she noticed the bunny grabbing a quick bite before the ground-cover disappeared under another snow.

Many of the birds have, like this flicker, been frequenting the suet feeder, which provides particularly high-energy food. I even saw two crows struggling to eat from the suet feeder, even though they are really too big to perch on the little suet cage. I watched one crow try to fly away, but unable to get its big wings beating fast enough, it flopped onto the snow before it could get itself organized.

We have been responding to the weather as well in our cuisine at home. For Sarah's birthday, I made bread (with butter, one of my preferred "high energy foods"), and roasted vegetable soup garnished with parmesan, condimento balsamic vinegar, and gougères (I use the recipe from the New Basics cookbook, although I substitute cheddar for most of the other cheese). As I write this, I am making my fourth (fifth?) batch of roasted vegetable soup of the winter. Yum.

Other desires emerge in the winter as well, including a longing for the colors of spring. I am finding it hard to walk by the spring flowers in the grocery store without bringing them home to brighten our winter table!