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| Snow covered gardens |
This City Gone Country Girl has a secret. I have loved acclimating to country living, but it is hard surviving the winter season on the Allen Homestead. I have endured the figurative and literal meaning of being "cooped up"!
The sunshine offset the cold temperature outdoors today, so I bundled in my coat and put on my boots to do some photography. The sunshine felt so good on my face, I had almost forgotten what it felt like. In Upstate NY, the rays of sunshine are worth more than gold. It peaks so infrequently from behind the clouds, that when the sun makes its presence known, it's a day for praise! Especially for me, I am solar powered you know.
When I lived in the city, winter didn't seem to be as slow as it does here on the farm. There were things to go do. There were well plowed roads, warm malls, museums, movie theaters, and restaurants to visit. Even the local parks had plowed the park sidewalks for those who brave the cold to run the trails. These luxuries are not within many miles of where I live now, and there are days I truly miss the conveniences of city living. I find I miss it most during the winter.
Spring is a time for planning and prepping, summer for planting and growing, fall for harvesting, and winter for resting. I don't do well during time of rest because I don't like to sit still. I am a doer. Without having something constructive to work on, my brain goes into overdrive. So what do I do in the winter? I sit in my bay window, coffee in hand, fire in the woodstove, staring out at the snow white covered garden at rest. I spend my time overthinking. Over analyzing. Second guessing my choices. Wondering if I am doing things right. Hating the fact that I am cooped up inside like my chickens in the barn.
I realize that this is counterproductive behavior, and I know that I need to find something that will help me grow in a different way. It may not be planting seeds, digging in dirt, or pulling carrots, but there must be some constructive activity that can help this City Gone County Girl to personally grow during this seasonal dormant period!
In the next few weeks I will post what this City Gone Country Girl is doing to beat the winter blahs. I want to spend time with my family, take on some projects, learn something new, make things, whatever it takes to push through the season I don't care for so much. Maybe, just maybe, what is a dormant period for my gardens may be a growth period for me!
May We All Grow in the Wintertime!
City Gone County Girl ~ Jenn
A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to uproot,
A time to kill and a time to heal,
A time to tear down and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
A time to search and a time to give up,
A time to keep and a time to throw away,
A time to tear and a time to mend,
A time to be silent and a time to speak,
A time to love and a time to hate,
A time for war and a time for peace.
What do workers gain from their toil?
I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 NIV
