Flowers blooming in Northampton, Mass

My winter vacation just started- this morning was the last day shoveling manure for almost a week and after our trip to the Philadelphia vicinity, I will call my boss and maybe start soon after.  In any case, at the Smith College campus Hamemelis are blooming as is Chimonanthus praecox and both are quite fragrant.  In the herbaceous perennial department, Galanthus (snow drops), early snow Crocus, Eranthus (winter aconite), and Adonis are all in bloom and some daffodils are showing buds.  Back in Vermont, we have a foot of snow but I believe it got above freezing so maybe maple sap ran.  I hope so, we tapped 4000 trees.

Spring is (almost) here

Three weeks ago Johnny-jump-ups were still blooming from last fall, snowdrops were coming up and Helleborus niger was in bloom but the blossoms were still bent down and not yet all the way expanded.  Since then we've had more -20F temperatures with no snow cover and more snow and ice. I don't know what things are like under the snow.

The reason it feels like spring is that we have done the bulk of the tapping of the sugar bush at Maple Grove Farm (where I live), boiled a little and are waiting for sap to flow.  Once we do the tapping it feels like spring no matter how cold it still is.