Gray Skies
Sigh. Winter. Sometimes I think it’s just not the cold … I think the constant gray sky just wears on you. Is it just me or do we really have an unusual amount of cloudy days?
I threw that question at Google and it came back with some validation. Using data from the Binghamton airport, our area averages around 212 cloudy days a year. That’s 58% of our days, which actually doesn’t seem that bad. But the devil is in those details.
Sunny is defined as a day where 75% of the sky is free of clouds. Partly Cloudy is around a 50-50 mix. Cloudy is more than 75% of the sky is gray.
With those definitions the Binghamton data shows we only get 52 Sunny days a year. That is one day per week. And I personally think they mostly happen on Wednesdays when we are all working. This puts us in the top five cloudiest places IN THE COUNTRY. Just for comparison, Phoenix has 313 Sunny days a year.
Why is that? Why do we get all the clouds? I asked our local resident meteorologist Nathan Wiles (Wiles Valley Weather) to explain it to me. Nathan explained, “Oftentimes we will see an increase in clouds on a north or northwest wind due to the lake-effect moisture from both the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes. The difference in air temperature vs. water temperature aids in the generation of clouds and lake effect precipitation this time of year.” That makes sense looking at the picture above. We have 95% of the country’s fresh water sitting directly upwind from us. The air flows, generally, from north-west to south-east. But somewhere over my house (it feels like it anyway) it does a turn and kinda heads north-east. So the air travels over the Great Lakes pulling moisture up and forming clouds, then hangs around a bit as it does it’s turn to go back north. Oh, and every now and then we get a good ol’ nor-easter that just kind of spins over us creating all sorts of issues.
But our positioning also has its benefits. Unlike a lot of the western states, we rarely have drought conditions. It’s a pleasant temperature, we rarely have days over 90 degrees or below 0 degrees. This keeps our mountains full of magnificent trees and our pastures lush and green.
And even on a gray day in January, sometimes we are rewarded with something beautiful …
HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK
The combination of cool temperature, lack of sunshine and a relatively short growing season sure does create a challenge for our farmers.
But we have amazing farmers! The amount of food that is generated in our area is incredibly impressive.
Let’s use some of that farm goodness to make this Egg Roll Bowl. You can use any protein you want, like ground beef (on sale from Farmer Fred) or ground turkey from Nine Pines. Add some green cabbage from our Danville farms and carrots from our Lancaster farms and the forecast calls for an amazing dinner!
When I saw this recipe for Shredded Root Vegetable Pancakes I immediately thought of breakfast. I like to try to get some veggies in the first meal of the day and this looked perfect.
Picture a crispy veggie pancake topped with a runny egg and a spoonful of guacamole. Maybe add in a couple breakfast sausage links from Bluebird Ridge Farms. Yes, please!
Getting more veggies in the meals has been a focus for me lately. Especially when it is done creatively.
We are going to use a shortcut for this recipe. Start with some already made red pepper hummus from Singing Tree Natural Food. Then finish making the rest of Dinner Hummus with Spiced Chicken and Cauliflower. Check out the chicken we have on sale from our Danville farms this week too.
Did you see that New View Farm is making English Muffins for us? Absolutely love them!!
Let’s build this salmon blt … keta salmon from Wild for Salmon, bacon from Norway Ridge, lettuce from Tioga Greens and a spread of Garlic & Chive Moovache cheese from Engelbert’s Farm.
I love eating. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has read one of these newsletters.
But it has really only been the last decade that I have realized the power of food in keeping our body healthy.
Good thing Bespoke Apothecary is way ahead of me. They craft us a full line of things we can use to feel better with. Like Switchel. With age, my joints balk at the winter cold. I fight that with a morning tonic of warm water, switchel, a teaspoon of local honey and teaspoon of elderberry juice.
My body thanks me, especially on a cold morning when I have to shovel the weather off the porch.