Greetings, Rural Sprout readers, It’s chilly out there, so I hope your coffee is good and hot. I want to take a moment to
thank all of the readers who wrote in to say they enjoy the stories I share from my life. When we aren’t all puttering in the garden, there’s not much news to share, so I’m glad to hear you enjoy my little Sunday musings. We got our first snowfall of the season here in central Pennsylvania. It started around one on Tuesday afternoon and petered out sometime early Wednesday
morning. But boy, did it have me doing my happy dance. Whenever I got up to stretch during my workday, I went out to stand on the balcony and watch the falling
snow. I don’t know what draws me to it, but I’ve always loved it. As a kid, you had to drag me, teeth chattering, mittens covered in clumpy snowballs, back into the house long after the sun went down in the
winter. My daughter is a fan, too, so I called her to brag about my 5” of snow. She responded, “That’s cute, mom; Buffalo is expecting four feet of snow this
weekend.” Pfft. Showoffs. I'm jealous. It was also finally cold enough to get ‘Big Red’ out of the closet. ‘Big Red’ being my winter coat of
choice for the last seven years and the better half of the traditional Pennsylvania Tuxedo. For anyone who hails from Pennsylvania, you will, I’m sure, be familiar with this term. When I moved here many years ago, I kept seeing these massive red plaid coats worn by men old enough to be my grandfather. I finally plucked up the courage to ask one of these gentlemen about their coat and learned that this was the top half of the Pennsylvania
Tuxedo. You see, for many years, Woolrich, maker of fine woolen clothes right here in Pennsylvania, offered a hunting suit made from thick wool. It was a red and black plaid coat with matching wool pants. “Made by outdoorsmen for outdoorsmen,” read one of the ads. The coats were made of heavy wool and lined with thick cotton flannel. They not only have four deep pockets
on the front of the coat but hidden hand-warming pockets on the side. The collar flips up and can be buttoned closed to keep the wind out. And it has a large game pouch on the back of the coat. Because who doesn’t want to walk around with a dead pheasant in their pocket? After spending my first winter working at Penn State, walking around the windy University Park campus, I knew I wanted one of these coats. I checked online, and sure enough, Woolrich
still made them back in 2015. Of course, they were made overseas and weren’t 100% wool but a wool/polyester blend. And they wanted over $200 for them. So, I closed that tab on my computer
and set out to find a vintage, 100% wool, flannel-lined Woolrich hunting coat. It took me well into 2016 to find one, but find one I did. The entire tuxedo, in fact, coat and pants! I paid $80 for both at an antique store. And I’ve worn my trusty
Woolrich hunting coat every winter since. It keeps me warm on the coldest of days, and I often get stopped by men old enough to be my grandfather to tell me they like my coat. I do too. While I try not to think about how many dead birds were likely stuffed in the back of it, sometimes I do wonder about the person who owned it before me many years ago. Woolrich no longer makes the
Pennsylvania Tuxedo; not even the classic coat can be found anywhere on their website. But my ‘Big Red’ is still going strong. I’ve had to sew two buttons back on over the years, and later this afternoon, I will snug up the buttonholes with a little stitching. But I have a feeling I could leave this coat to one of my kids when I’m gone; it’s just that sturdy and dependable. I’ll bet it could even withstand four feet of lake-effect snow.
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Right about now, there are boxes of poinsettias being loaded into the back of trucks, which will make their way to a store near you. Whether or not you end up with a beautiful plant that will last until the New Year depends a great deal on what happens when it reaches its destination.
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If you consistently provide what they need, cardinals will happily make their homes there and stay put. So, if you need more flashes of red flying by your window, read on.
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If you wander into the garden section at any store, inevitably, you’ll be met by a wall of orange pots – the terracotta section. If you’re new to gardening in general or just terracotta pots, you’ve probably wondered what the big deal is with these silly things.
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Most of us would rather play in the dirt and the spring sunshine instead of searching for lost tools or replacing broken ones. But with a little time invested now, you can make spring gardening easier for future-you.
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Did you miss a newsletter or want to go back and read a few for inspiration - Click this link. Don't forget to check out our Facebook page for daily updates. That's all for this week, Rural Sprout Readers.
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