Through a Country Window: Wintering

Wintering

Winter 2017-2018

December 22, 2017

Here is how I ended my previous blog entry, called "Turning", from late summer and fall of 2017:

"Now, I begin to turn inward, to set up the bird feeders outside and pull my rocking chair up to the bay window. It is time to begin to burrow myself into winter projects and studies, in preparation for the next spring - cleaning and testing seeds, studying woodland mushroom production, studying home fruit production, putting together an herbal medicine binder, and catching up on studies from nature observations from throughout 2017."

HA! Is that how it went? Nope.

Did I "burrow myself into winter projects and studies ..."? Nope, or, just barely.
I did hang up the bird feeders, but the rocking chair never came in from the screened porch.

December 24, 2017

I did not clean and test all of the seeds, though I did some. Others are still sitting in bags in the kitchen, as of mid-April 2018.
Did I study woodland mushroom production? Never cracked the book open. In fact, I forgot about that prospect completely.

Except I did grow some really nice button mushrooms from a kit Richard gave me for Christmas!

Home fruit production? Bingo! There's one I have been working on, though I have not accumulated all of the materials I need for the year.
Did I put together my herbal medicine binder? Bzzzzt! No!
Did I catch up on studies from nature observations I did throughout 2017? Very regretfully - no.

I had big plans for a very internal winter, the way I generally envision a winter to be. This is the equivalent of pioneers spending the winter cleaning, repairing and sharpening tools and equipment, catching up on quilt-making, and ... cleaning seeds.

So, what in the world did I do all winter?

It seemed to go so fast. Winters are supposed to crawl by at a painfully slow pace, making one wish for spring. I was wishing for more winter so that I could do the things I had intended to do before the rushing onset of spring activity would arrive, pushing everything else out of the way.

But, sometimes Life has other ideas. It seemed I was busy all the time, and suddenly it was holiday season. I was not prepared for holiday season, and so I crammed everything in late in the game (I vow to never do that again.)

On the heels of the holidays was Richard's retirement in early January, including a celebration, at our house, shortly after his last day of work. Don't get me wrong - I am happy for his retirement, and it is worthy of celebration, and we had a grand one that I am very glad we did have, full of memories. But, it did mean I was further behind in those "internal" winter projects.

Some things I did accomplish:

1. Brought my plants indoors:

Brown Turkey fig tree and other assorted plants on January 28, 2018

The beginnings of three windowsill herb plants - parsley, rosemary, thyme - from a garden program in late January, 2018

"The succulent plant that fell from the sky" - the center leaf found alone one day next to the faucet outside our well house - and with prodigious new growth since then. To the right is one of many Mother-of-Thousands plants.

2. Did my seed orders and then started some seed indoors:

Cells planted with He-Shi-Ko Scallion seeds on February 15, 2018 -

something I plant every year

3. Fed the birds:

January 11, 2018

February 11, 2018

4. Harvested some early winter produce:

A harvest of Rainbow Swiss Chard on November 20, 2017

I also planned the gardens for the Vincennes State Historic Sites, kept up with blogs and articles (except this blog, obviously), played Irish music with friends, met with friends, led nature walks, went to some book club meetings, went to an opera, did a presentation, got wrapped up in watching the Winter Olympics, worked on controlling invasive plants, did my part of the invasive plant phenology project, and went to meetings, workshops and programs.

Well! That sounds like a lot, now that it's all written down. I suppose I wasn't such a slump this winter, after all.

The thing is, I have a tendency to give myself more things to do (in a day, in a week, in a season) than a normal person can reasonably accomplish. I should not be disappointed that I did not “do it all.”

But, I will do what I can to ensure that next winter is a calm, internal, studious one. However – one never knows.

A view of our humble homestead on January 22, 2018

Some scenes from over the 2017-2018 winter:

The Herb Garden Transformation Project:

December 24, 2017

Stories in the snow - bird tracks and wing prints - on December 24, 2017

January 12, 2018

January 15, 2018

January 18, 2018

More stories in the snow, on January 18, 2018

Mourning Dove imprint in the garden on January 18, 2018

January 22, 2018 - after snow melt and rain

Frozen Tibetan prayer flags on January 27, 2018

February 4, 2018

Comparison on the garden path: February 4, 2018 (a mouse, I think)

Volunteer Peach Tree:

November 20, 2017

January 12, 2018

January 22, 2018

February 11, 2018

Garden Frog:

December 22, 2017

January 15, 2018

January 18, 2018

January 29, 2018

February 4, 2018

It needs a name. I'm considering "Bufo".

Dragonfly:

January 15, 2018

Sparkling with ice: January 27, 2018

Icy again: February 11, 2018

Some more scenes:

An old Jerusalem Artichoke stalks, I sometimes find the narrow slits made by native bees who are overwintering in there - a good reason to not clean up the garden very well.

January 29, 2018