You might have this problem: stacks of papers on the desk. Some are records that I’ll file away after tax season is over; others are bills.

I recently went through a pile of miscellaneous papers at the side of my desk, and I discovered an old piece of yellow school tablet paper. It was tattered around the edges, but I knew immediately what I had found.

Many, many years ago, my father-in-law stopped by. He was dressed in Carhartt bibbed overalls with layers of shirts underneath. He was wearing what he would call a shop cap, but his work hat always looked like a train engineer’s hat to me.

He sat down on the top step coming into the kitchen. He didn’t want to drag dirt onto the kitchen floor. As I washed dishes, he started to tell me about how the family came to the area.

I grabbed the nearest tablet. At the top of the page were the numbers 1 to 52 painfully written out by our oldest son. As Dad talked, I took notes. His great-great-grandfather came alone to Pittsburgh from Ireland about 1838 to 1840. Dad went on to describe how the family migrated to various small towns in western Pennsylvania and eventually settled in Grove City.

Our oldest is 57 years old now, so this must have happened more than 50 years ago. The image of my father-in-law that day is so clear. He has been gone a long time, but I will always consider him to be one of my strongest cheerleaders. We miss him.

I will file this paper away, so someone else finds it after I am gone. Family roots run deep.

The days are slowly getting longer, and the hope of spring will be here before you know it. Farmers will soon be working hard to get equipment ready for planting season.

I plan to get out in the yard before things green up to trim branches and eliminate some weeds that overwintered in the flower beds. I continue to add perennials to help reduce the care that is needed around the yard.

The poison ivy in a daylily bed needs to be eradicated. I’m not sure how I will get that accomplished. Getting up close and personal with poison ivy or poison oak can be a disaster. I don’t want to experience that again any time soon.

The herb garden needs updated. Several of the things I like to plant are annuals. I put each herb plant in an 8-inch pot and sink the pot about 4 inches into the soil. The pots control the roots from creeping throughout the bed. I need to find a nice mulch to spread around the pots to control the weeds.

Last season, I found several new varieties of basil. One was called cinnamon basil, which truly gave off a cinnamon aroma when I rubbed the leaves. I think this might make a nice addition to a pitcher of lemonade or iced tea. (Oh boy, does that sound like summer.)

I find that I share more herbs than I use, but I love to see them grow. Maybe landscape pea gravel would look nice between the pots. For now, I can only dream about what this bed will look like when summer comes.

Even in these challenging times, we depend on the seasons coming in their normal sequence. As farmers and rural folks, we can use this assurance to move forward regardless of what’s going on in the world.

Hope springs eternal. Let’s hope that spring brings more normalcy to our lives.

Gregg writes from western Pennsylvania. She is the Pennsylvania 2019 Outstanding Woman in Agriculture and is a past president of American Agri-Women.