Snowflakes danced in the air off and on today. Will the coming deep freeze mean the end of green? What will be left to pick for fresh salads by the end of the week? The kale and cabbage will survive. The fava beans probably. It takes a long, cold snap to zap them. The arugula and ruby streaks will sprout again as soon as the freeze ends. I’ve let them go to seed throughout the summer and their tiny seeds are in every inch of the garden. Arugula and ruby streaks sprout everywhere.

But I doubt the beautiful potato plants I found today will make it through the week. But even if they succumb this week, they will be back in the spring more beautiful than ever.

Takuma 拓真 is a steady companion when I am out tending the grounds. He and his sister are master rodent terminators, and because they will dig, and dig, and dig until they find their prey, I’ve banned them from the vegetable garden. It was looking like a moonscape with craters everywhere.

Even so, they are so useful, I wonder how people survived before dogs. Somehow we need to train them to bark at the hawks and eagles when they fly overhead. They see them and look up at them. “Don’t just stand there, bark!” we say, and go running around barking ourselves, hoping they will get the hint. So far that has not worked. Becky, Kuma-Hime 熊姫, and Hazel are counting on them.