Welcome Winter

December 21st is the winter solstice, smack-dab in the center and not the beginning of winter, so if one has to pick a calendar date, and nature doesn't observe calendar dates, I choose November 1st to acknowledge as the first day of winter. And bring it on, I say, we're ready! We are stocked up for the winter months. There is hay in the barn, meat in the freezer, the gardening is done for the year, the vegetables are stored away, and there are rows of jams, pickles and other preserves on the shelves. Early winter is actually one of the easiest times of the year to put together a meal from what we've grown. All that work, all year long, has been to get through the winter months, and we are now at the most completely stocked up point in our entire year. Unlike in February and March, when we've run out of our favorite choices (no more bacon!?! We're out of edamames!?!), and the new growing season hasn't yet started, we now have a fully stocked larder to cook from.



This may look like a mess, but it is something every woman who's ever owned a sewing machine understands. It is what I have been wanting, and waiting, my entire life to have -an actual sewing room. As much as I'd like to keep my children forever safe and under our wing at home, the silver lining to my son's moving out of our rather small (rather cramped with five people living here) farmhouse, is that what was his bedroom, is now becoming a sewing room. A lot more time will be spent inside during these next few months, and I am delirious with happiness at the prospect of sewing, spinning, knitting and quilting in this room this winter.