Winter is Over. Time to Prep for the Next One?

Is spring the season to put aside all thoughts of winter, or is now the time we should be thinking about it most of all? The majority of us will probably answer the former, but for most of New England’s history, its residents did not have the luxury of seasonal amnesia.

When we were an agrarian society, the spring thaw came like the crack of a starter’s pistol, spurring people into a frenzy of activity. It was a time to plant, to gather wood, and to repair homes, all done with one weary eye fixed on November. Winters in New England could be fatal, and what you did or failed to do one spring had a huge say on whether you’d ever see another. The Pilgrims learned this early. They began the winter of 1620 with few provisions, inadequate shelter, and 99 mouths to feed. By April, only 50 souls survived. In William Bradford’s personal account of Plymouth’s early history, he devotes much of his chapter on the year 1621 to describing all the things they did to keep this tragedy from repeating. They learned how to plant corn from their Native American allies, they fished extensively, and they took as many deer, turkey, and water foul as they could. That year they set a precedent: Massachusetts would be a colony of ants, not grasshoppers. This is one of the most profound ways in which we differ from our ancestors, though it’s one we rarely think of. For them, the seasons set the schedule. The calendar was an inescapable tyrant, dictating what work they did when and tempering the joy of every bounty with the grim knowledge that lean times were just ahead. Today, the seasons are mostly scenery. Except for the occasional blizzard, our daily business goes on unimpeded. The few things that are absolutely necessary for us to do to prepare for winter (flushing outdoor pipes, putting on our snow tires, etc.) can be completed in one busy weekend. Unless you’re a back-to-the-land homesteader, there is little need to think about next winter now, except maybe to check for a dip in fuel oil prices so you can refill your tank on the cheap. Is this a good thing? Have we lost something by severing ourselves from the natural cycle of the year, or are we reaping the rewards of our ancestor’s hard work? Is this the goal they were working towards: to never have to worry about winter again? The photo this week is of none other than Calvin Coolidge chopping wood on his father’s farm in preparation for winter. It’s a reminder that even the mighty once had to work to keep warm. This particular image may be a little misleading though, warns Julie Bartlett Nelson, archivist at the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. While Coolidge did occasionally work on his father’s farm, this particular shot may have been staged as a publicity photo for his 1920 run for the vice presidency. I guess we’ll just have to judge him on his form.