As soon as January dawns I start dreaming of spring. Since I'm not a skier and no longer a skater, and with no son or grandson enticing me to the rink to watch their hockey games, there are long days and nights to fill before the first robin chirps. What better pastime, then, than watching for the first signs of spring?

As I write this the days are light longer. Soon I'll be enjoying supper by daylight, even though I may still be eating breakfast in the dark. But as sure as the warm sun melts the snow into muddy puddles and the buds on the trees become plump, spring will come. And with it, the anticipation of a change of diet.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere we wait patiently until we can again enjoy locally grown produce. But while we wait, we can look for new ways to prepare the trusty root vegetables that have sustained us throughout the winter months. How many ways can you prepare carrots, turnips (I still refuse to call them rutabagas), and potatoes? Keep working on it-for it will be a long time before the first local crop of fresh green beans appears on your table.

Alternatively, if we don't have an ample stash of local produce in our freezers, we can still enjoy beans grown and dried in our area. Baked beans! Is there a better meal, whether served on a Saturday or any other day of the week? (Note: I said any day, not every day.)

Soups are always popular with me, but even more so when wintry blasts usher in March winds. Once our supply of winter squashes, cabbage, onions and beets is exhausted, we may have to turn a blind eye to labels announcing imported products. But the trade-off here is that with the first Atlantic Canadian products of the season, we will return to buying local again. Is that a promise?

Maple syrup comes first-and can be used to flavour travel-weary vegetables. Then dandelion greens offer a welcome if somewhat bitter-tasting tonic. Rhubarb, too, has internal body-cleansing qualities, and it enlivens our taste buds. Then, soon, the dream of our first feed of fiddleheads will become a reality. Add in asparagus, radishes, tender beet greens... Yum!

While a bowl of hearty vegetable soup and chunks of good bread and cheese can certainly make a tasty and nourishing meal, smelts from beneath the ice can stir the soul and prepare you for the first fresh trout of the season.

I have fished in my lifetime and even caught my share-mostly mackerel. But it's been a long time since my line got tangled up with another fishing line on a trout-fishing weekend on Lake Charlotte, on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore. The biggest struggle was to land the fish, since the two fisherfolk were in separate boats. Whose trout it was became a bone of contention.

It must be a fish tale to remember that trout being a two-pounder. Never mind. It was delicious eating.

Recipes:

Creamy Celery Soup
Baked Lemon-Stuffed Trout
Walnut & Yogurt Bread
Maple Mocha Pudding