January Thaw: Fresh Dirt

I love the smell of fresh dirt (soil is you want to call it that).  Nothing in this world can beat the smell of fresh, moist dirt.   Well, other than the smell of lilacs in the spring or fresh cut alfalfa...oh and the smell of corn silage, and yes I do love the smell of cow manure too.  But fresh dirt is one of my top 3 favorite farm smells.  Today we were blessed with a January Thaw, in Minnesota that means that the sun was shining, the temperatures were rising and we were enjoying our snow melting.  January Thaw usually means working fast on farms to clean out yards that are melting (frozen snow and manure is now movable) and clean pens and sheds out while the weather is nice and the animals are outside.  But to me, January Thaw means we get a small "taste" or in this case, smell, of spring.  Winters can sometimes be long and unbearable in Minnesota (like the winter of 2013-2014) and these little January Thaws really help to break up the weather! 
That sweet smell of soil is so refreshing.  It smells new and alive and it makes me eager for the upcoming spring season! I hope everyone in the northern states had a chance to enjoy the January Thaw!