the major native american tribe of northern minnesota were the ojibwe (a.k.a. annishenaabe). their translation for the word for march is “crsuted on snow moon”. i learned that reading a loiuse erdrich book. for any of you have lived more than one year in this part of north america, you will know exactly what the ojibwe were saying. the month where occasional warm days melt the top of the snow, and then the cold returns and refreezes it, creating a hard crusty shell on the snow that cuts at your ankles if you try to walk through it. yesterday it snowed big fluffy snowflakes all morning, today the sun shone hard and cold from a clear sky, and the wind whipped through the weave of my jacket. tonight the wind chill will be in the teens below zero. this weekend we may be in shirt sleeves. t. s. eliot may have called april the cruelest month. here in the land of the ojibwe, the cruelest month is the month of the crusted on snow moon. hands down.

march oak leaves with snow

turtle lake, shoreview, minnesota