Martens plowing

About Martens plowing

Snow gets measured differently in Great Valley, where the hills around Ellicottville catch storm after storm and a season's total is counted in feet rather than inches. Martens plowing runs the winter routes through that country, opening driveways along the creek road and up the long grades where a car has no chance without a clean lane. Storms here can settle in for two days at a stretch, which means coming back around, again and again, so nothing has a chance to pile up past the point of pushing. There is craft in it — reading the wind, knowing which drives will drift shut by morning, leaving the banks somewhere they will not be in the way come March. A cleared drive at first light, with the hills white to the treeline, is the work done right.