Politicians confound me. You cannot live on a farm and deny the reality of climate change. When I moved here more than a decade ago, it started snowing in October and the snow and ice stayed on the ground until April. The ground was hard as a rock, and ticks and bugs and flowers did not dare show themselves.

If you weren’t ready by November,  you were screwed and would struggle all winter. It was common for the temperature to be – 30, I got frost bit on fingers and toes form being outside even for a few minutes. I feel on the ice constantly and still feel those wounds.

In the past few winters, winter has redefined itself. It appears for a few days, and then melts away. The animals are confused, holed up in the barn one day, grazing in the warm sun the next. Their winter coats grow, and then shed too soon. The flowers come out in February then freeze to death. Some will never come back.

Two weeks ago, an awful blizzard came and covered the farm in snow. Four days later, the snow was all gone.

Still, the images of the winter pasture are beautiful, if short lived. Tomorrow and Saturday, bitter cold, single digit temperatures. By Sunday, they will be up in the 50’s’ and 60’s. I would love to bring a congressmen who scoffs at global warning to the farm for awhile, I was talking to some farmers today in town, and they kept shaking their heads.

The winter used to be so sure and confident, they said, now the winters are so confused.