I enjoyed this view from Terra Brockman at the Land Connection, just as winter finally got revving…
I’ve noticed a great difference in the weather comments from my local farmers and my city friends. The city folks are generally annoyed by the cold and ice, while the country folks are relieved that it has come at last. Farmers know that the work of winter is indispensable to summer’s harvest. The cold reduces pest populations and prevents fruit trees and grape vines from budding out too soon. But its main and irreplaceable value is that it rejuvenates the soil through the thaw/freeze cycles — loosening the soil and creating channels for spring rains to run down deep.
I gaze out over the hills and imagine the water in Henry’s fields finally turning to ice (our first cold snap in December happened when the ground was covered with an insulating blanket of snow, so the ground did not freeze then). The ice (expanded water) pushes against the soil, creating the spaces that will allow moisture to trickle all the way down to the subsoil, which will keep the vegetables alive and growing even if summer (and global warming) should bring another drought.
Chris Corrigan has been thinking a lot about “harvesting” in open space and other inviting and hosting work. I suppose there’s a connection to be made here. Perhaps between the freezing and unfreezing of “the final draft of the invitation” that opens more space for people to go deep, and the “harvest” grow rich.
I’m always relieved when clients finally get the first draft of an invite “frozen” on a page. Then we start the real work of freezing and unfreezing, until something really Springs.