March
The least photogenic month of the year and one of the best. March is brown, wet, and loud with birds. Everything is happening underground and almost nothing is happening above it, and then one Tuesday the whole thing tips over into spring.
Days 60–90 · Sunset near 7:14
In Season
What the month is made ofAt the market
The hungry gap. Last winter storage on one side, the first forced rhubarb and ramps on the other. Maple syrup is new and worth buying from someone who boiled it themselves.
The light
The clocks go forward and the evening arrives an hour late, which is the single largest mood change of the American year.
The ground
Mud season. Nothing can be planted for weeks yet, but the beds want turning and the seedlings want a sunny windowsill.
The rituals
St. Patrick's Day, the equinox, the basketball tournament that eats three weekends, and the first grill of the year lit optimistically in forty-eight degrees.
What to Wear Now
The month of the wrong jacketThe mid-weight coat
Too warm for the heavy one, too cold for none. This is the coat that has to exist.
Boots, still
Mud outlasts snow by a month. Keep them by the door until May.
A layer to shed
March mornings and March afternoons are different seasons. Dress for both.
The March List
Four things worth owning this monthA seed tray and light
Six weeks of head start for the price of a takeout dinner.
See it →The barn jacket
Waxed cotton, deep pockets. The correct March coat, and it lasts decades.
See it →A good hand brush
For the boots, the step, and the dog. March is dirty.
See it →Real maple syrup
Buy the dark grade. Buy a lot. It keeps.
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