A relentless, old-fashioned Minnesota winter has a firm grip on us, as early March weather feels more like mid-January.  Despite almost no let-up in the significantly lower than normal temperatures, it really won’t be very long until our hopes are realized, and some 40 degree plus weather and a strengthening sun gnaw away at the snowbanks.

When daytime temperatures reach the 30’s and re-freezing occurs at night, sap flow begins in the trees gracing our yards, fields, forests and urban areas.  Maple syrup producers will be boiling down sap into the very best compliment for a stack of buttermilk pancakes.

In the next 10-20 days, the sap flow will begin.  Some years this happens in February, but this year it will be later due to the extended cold temperatures.  Regardless of when it occurs, the beginning of sap flow in trees is the beginning of the end of winter!

This period of the four seasons that we are about to experience is the rebirth of a landscape that has been sleeping quietly since late October when dormancy really became established.  As the days grow ever longer rest assured that hope springs eternal.  The timeless dance of new life is about to begin.