Winter is Coming

When most people think of summer, images of laying by the pool, drinking cocktails, beach days and nice weather come to mind.  When I think of summer, I think of chaos.  Summer on the farm is chaotic at best.  But the chaos means things are going right.  Summer chaos is good chaos.  It means my garden is producing a lot, needs upkeep and the harvest needs canning and freezing for the year.  The chaos means my classes are going well and kids are enjoying our camp.  It means lots of driving to set up incubation programs in schools and homes.  It means baby chicks and bunnies! As much as I enjoy the chaos, it is exhausting.  There are days where I wake up in the morning still tired from the night before.  Days where my muscles just don’t want to keep moving.  To get through these days, I must keep telling myself winter is coming.

Winter is cold and dark, but it is nature’s way of telling us it is time to rest.  It is too cold outside for our classes, so we get a break from planning lessons and crafts.  The garden is in hibernation and all the animals are moved out from the grassy fields to right near the house.  This makes feeding and watering easier.  I get to finally open those jars of vegetables that I canned over the summer and enjoy the harvest.  I get to spend more quality time playing with my kids.   The cold does come with its own set of challenges, however.  Snow, frozen water lines, a billion layers of clothing to keep warm while doing chores makes simple things harder, but there is still less to do.  I get time to knit, make my soaps, cleaners and detergents for the year, read a book and maybe have time to keep my house clean. 

I’ve always found it amazing how mother nature works.  I am awestruck that our mama rabbits just know how to make a nest and care for her babies.  The fact that our food scraps can be composted and used to feed the soil for future vegetables to grow is an amazing way that nature takes care of itself.  But its also taking care of us.  The cycles of the seasons are mother nature’s way of keeping us sane.  Just when we have had enough of the heat and busy schedule of the summer, the weather cools and leaves start to change.  We get a break from the daily grind and our workload shifts. Things feel new and refreshed.  And after the cold month when we just can’t stand another cold day, the weather turns again and start to warm up.  It keeps us from getting burnt out and ready to throw in the towel.