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Cold
Hardening
by Michael Hofferber. Copyright © 1996. All rights reserved. Hard frost again last night. My footsteps leave dark impressions on the ground. The breath of the cows rises in clouds as they huddle together like football players at Soldier Field on a December Sunday. Fewer grasshoppers now, I notice. They used to scatter through the wheat stubble on my approach. Only a few stragglers remain. The rest have died or gone off to hide from winter.
My beard and waistline, too, seem to grow more readily this time of year. By winter solstice, or late December, we'll be well acclimated to the cold. Reptiles, insects and other creatures make similar adjustments. Many bury themselves in the most protected spot they can find and slip into a deep torpor, like hibernation, which lasts throughout the winter. Even no-see-ems -- those nearly invisible biting midges that infiltrate lawns and campsites, nibbling at whatever skin they latch onto -- have a nifty wintertime adaptation. Their bodies start producing a protein this time of year that acts as a sort of antifreeze.
This wintertime acclimation, known as "cold hardening," is also found in the pesky fruit fly and the common house fly. It is one reason why a hard winter won't always kill off an insect population and the diseases it carries. My own cold hardening begins with snow tires on the truck, weather-stripping around the windows and doors, and a couple cords of firewood split and stacked. There's still gloves and boots to buy, trees to prune, feed to stock up on, and garden beds to mulch. I don't have any antifreeze proteins in my system that I know of, but I've noticed that 30 degrees isn't as chilling as it was a couple weeks ago. |
Rural Delivery Commentaries and advice on rural living by Michael Hofferber Visit the Rural Delivery Blog 
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