Happy Winter Solstice!

I always look forward to the winter solstice because I know that from this point on, the days will be getting longer again.  It also marks the point at which I let myself start thinking about next year’s garden.  Everything is going to be new for me next summer with the new property and new garden that, as of now, is still unfinished.  I have several packets of seeds left from last year but I know I’ll want to add some other favorites.  I also want to try some new vegetables that fit into my Shaker plan.  There’s going to be a lot of planning to do.

I’m glad I will have a lot to do, at least on paper, before spring.  Winter is such a tough time for someone who loves having her hands in the soil.  Here, it’s even a bit more difficult that I’m used to.  In the Adirondacks, the snow falls, any time after Halloween, really, and then it stays until spring.  It is very clearly winter and there is nothing that can be done outside because the garden is underneath a frozen blanket.  Here, in the Southern Tier, snow only lasts a day or two.  The largest storm we have had so far left about four inches of snow on the ground.  That was gone in two days. 

Winter! (for a little while at least)

So, I look outside at the bare yard and incomplete garden and think that I should be out there doing something – building raised beds or moving gravel for the paths or something.  Then I go outside into 30 degree weather and feel the frozen ground crunch under my feet and remember that there is nothing to do out there.  I just have to wait until spring arrives.  Nothing teaches patience like a garden.

There are things to do during the long winter, though.  I do a lot of knitting and writing.  That keeps me out of trouble.  Then there is the planning, of course.  I’m a big fan of lists and graphs and diagrams so it is the perfect season to indulge.  There is also the fun of finding creative ways to use the produce put up for the season.  We don’t have much from this past summer since I only had the small surrogate beds at work.  Still, my husband made his annual crock of sauerkraut this fall.  The crock we use was one that my grandmother, and probably her mother before her, used to make sauerkraut.  I like having that connection to the past both in the crock itself and in the process of fermenting cabbage in my own home.  There’s something comfortable in the older ways of preparing food and making things for our home.  I really enjoy modern technology but I think I will always be drawn back to doing things by hand.

This year's sauerkraut was ready for Thanksgiving