While spending the long evenings sorting and sifting through things we came upon this winter solstice greeting we wrote to family and friends in 2022. It still very much applies.
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Hot showers are a marvel. Water, the most precious commodity on this planet, flows freely at the turn of a tap. It falls from the sky and then is transported in underground pipes, for many kilometers, to our home – heated with electricity oscillating back and forth through copper wires that the squirrels run along to safely cross the road. Hot showers are what I imagine I would miss most if I were homeless or living in a more primitive slice of human history.
Last fall, My Love and I were digging up the potatoes we had grown under our grape vines when we accidentally disturbed a bumblebee who was just starting her hibernation. Only the queens overwinter and they do so in little nooks and crannies in the soil and under wood chips and leaf litter. We watched and protected her as she re-energized her metabolism so she could fly off to find another warm and cozy shelter. We took pictures so we can identify her daughters when they pollinate our plum blossoms next spring.
Homemade plum sauce is one of the three flavourings of our morning smoothies. The other two are boysenberries and crushed grape leaves; all harvested from the little town lot we affectionately dub our town lot farm. The fig harvest was so bountiful this year that we are still substituting one frozen fig for the banana in our blender each morning. Toasting our health with these fruits of our love is what we do before Laura heads off to work.
There is a ship’s bell mounted next to our front door. After packing Laura’s müsli, homemade raisin bread and some of our dried apples in her lunch bag, I ready her bike as she packs her laptop and other gear. We blow kisses. As she steps on her pedals, I reach for the bell rope by the door just as I hear the sound of her little bell anticipate the ringing of mine.
Laura loves her work. She feels honoured to be able to help our local member of the provincial legislature represent his constituents with thoughtful and compassionate dedication. It can be a challenge for an MLA and his team to juggle all the demands that come with the job. Manifesting her love in the office so it truly represents Adam’s dedication, and helping to connect the many threads of activity, is something Laura does with pride.
As a result, she often works late or brings work home over the weekend. But we never fail to gather in our book nook at the end of each day for hors d’oeuvres of homemade rye crackers, green pea hummus and the vegan cheese she has perfected. Friday and Saturday it’s pizza night as we marvel over that delicious vegan cheese as it bubbles over the mushrooms and the versatile dough that forms the crust. That dough also gets turned into soft pretzels and cinnamon buns from time to time.
By the first of November we had tucked our garden into its slumber just as the first frost threatened the yellow and mauve chrysanthemums we inherited from Laura’s mom. My mother’s St. Francis of Assisi statue on our front porch, watches over the plum, pear and cherry trees in our front yard. The grapes that hung lush off the roof of our bike shed are long gone and the vines stand leafless in anticipation of the pruning soon to come.
Big snowflakes swirl through the now bare fig trees and the open framing of what was the old workshop that will become our ‘Il Terrazzo’ next summer. The three large windows in our kitchen keep the memories of last summer’s food garden fresh in our minds even as it now lies under a deep blanket of snow. Our imagination fills in the details of the bounty that the next growing season will surely provide.
Last Summer we rescued what remains of the little old house, and its 100 year old roughsawn framing cut from old growth forests, by rebuilding the roof with the lumber we salvaged from the old workshop. We installed a new metal roof, green trim and flashing white gutters that gives ‘the cottage’ a fresh lease on life. Although still a work in progress, as we continue to sift our soil to mine the gravel it contains, the refurbished perimeter drain will ensure its floor joists and beams will stay dry and strong.
The natural world all around us is resting now. Trees are bare and the birds are quiet. Squirrels are digging up the nuts they buried last fall. Only the lilac and magnolia are already budding with anticipation of the lengthening days to come. In January we will chip the last of the pruning, sift last year’s compost, transplant the new fruit trees that have sprouted, and graft mature fruiting branches onto the young whips. Soon thereafter everyone will begin to awaken from their slumber and usher in the new year of blossoms and plenty.
There are days when we are troubled by the news. Days when we wish we could just hold the whole world in our arms and bathe it in the kind of love that we share in our own little world. But mostly we find contentment in the knowledge that by our choices – to live a car free, plant based, small footprint lifestyle, manifesting our love in our sanctuary – we are the change we long to see in the world.
From the bottom of our hearts we wish you and yours a Happy Winter Solstice!