It appears that the groundhog may have been right — winter has returned to remind us that it’s only February! With more than seven inches of snow on the ground and the wind blowing and drifting what has fallen, it would seem that Spring is only a distant dream. At least that is how I was feeling until I looked out at my garden plot. Last Fall, when the leaves were tumbling from the trees, we gathered as many as we could find and piled them inside the garden fence where they would blanket the soil and decompose during the winter months. I looked at my garden, now piled high with snow, and thought of the miraculous way that the weight of the snow was compressing the leaves that soon would decay and nourish the soil. This new storm is providing water that will seep into the Spring soil when the earth thaws and comes back to life. Without winter, how would we enjoy Spring?