This time leading up to December feels a lot different out here in the country.We're so far removed from all the holiday craziness and commercial hype (it helps that we don't have a TV) that I'm quite calm about the fact Christmas is only 28 days away and I haven't started any shopping (or anything else) yet.
(We're trying to pare down our Christmas anyway, make it a simpler celebration focusing on family instead of stuff. I'll let you know how that works out.)
It's another reminder of how time just moves slower in the country. When you take a moment to breathe and really savour the space around you, it's inevitable that you find yourself more in tune with Nature.
It's another reminder of how time just moves slower in the country. When you take a moment to breathe and really savour the space around you, it's inevitable that you find yourself more in tune with Nature.
When we walk outside it's totally quiet in the most wonderful way. There are no snowblowers buzzing at all hours of the day or big municipal trucks throwing salt all over our front yard. Cliched as it sounds, everything is blanketed in a wonderful layer of fluffy snow, like a layer of thick cotton insulation.
It'd be foolish to think that everyday will be idyllic like this and I know we've got a long, hard winter ahead of us. And I admit, that's got me a bit worried. I worry about the kids driving to school on the bus (even school buses slide, especially on these country backroads) and although Lucas drives a pick-up into town, I worry that he'll end up in a ditch somewhere. Or worse.
There's also all the uncertainties leading into our first winter at here Rowangarth Farm. I wonder, will we have enough wood to last the winter (we heat with an external wood furnace and an indoor kitchen woodstove) and enough hay to feed the animals (overnight, our happy grazers have become happy hay burners); will I find an affordable generator that will keep our well pump pumping and our refrigerator humming when that inevitable mid-winter power outage strikes; do we have enough food stockpiled; will we be able to plow ourselves out if a really bad storm hits?
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Lots of questions and only experience will give us the answers. But in the meantime, we're just enjoying the wonder and beauty of the season.
3 comments:
How beautiful your snow scenes! We here in northeastern Minnesota just got our first ground covering of the season as a Thanksgiving morning gift. Today the temp has risen to 33° so it won't stick around for long.
I think you will do just fine this first winter. Even after 40+ years of homesteading, we're still learning. And I guess that's a good thing.
Please keep posting. Your blog is very interesting.
I'm so envious of your beautiful snow scenes. Not even a ground covering here in northeastern Minnesota yet.
I have a feeling you will do just fine through your first winter. We've been at homesteading for 40+ years and are still learning. I guess that's a good thing.
Keep on posting! Very enjoyable.
Thanks, Mama Pea! Thanks also for the kind words re getting through our first winter. Forty years of homesteading -- wow! That's amazing! I'll keep the snow photos coming. (And next time, I won't publish both comments -- my oops!)
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