Winter thoughts

Today was the first Tuesday in 27 weeks that we didn’t harvest for the CSA. Although we’re a bit sad the 2006 growing season is over, we’re glad we timed it this way. As you’ve all surely noticed, it is bitterly cold and frozen outside. We walked out into the fields briefly this morning (to harvest some food for ourselves), and were grateful that we didn’t need to stay there long at all. My fingers were frozen in just a few minutes, and most of the vegetables still in the fields are pretty sad looking.

But Thursday is the winter solstice, and from there things will slowly but surely brighten and warm up—it’s hard to believe on a day like today, but the plants really are alive out there. Our kale will continue to grow, along with the garlic we’ve planted on Grand Island. We love this time of year, for the rest it brings and the long evenings. It is a good time for contemplation.

Since we attend a church that observes the liturgical calendar, this time of year is Advent—the waiting for the Christ-child’s birth. But for us it is more than that: it is the patient and hopeful waiting for the rebirth of the world. It feels right for the valley to be dressed in white frost and fog today—a cleaning of the old year to prepare for the new. We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season, whether it is the celebration of a baby, the lighting of candles to remember a miracle of oil, or the burning of a yule log—Merry Everything!