Season of Rest
It’s morning - not early, but my house is quiet. It snowed yesterday - not much, but enough to leave a fresh dusting for the early sun to cast a million little diamond sparkles around the world outside my window.
Everything is calm, if not still and silent. There’s no buzz of activity yet.
I get antsy this time of year. I’m weeks away from starting seeds inside, and I’ve made most of my preparations ahead of that step. I’m past the holiday season, so there’s little distraction from life itself away from the waiting. There is truly nothing left to do but pause.
It’s not a negative angst - not at all. It’s anticipation. It’s butterflies in their chrysalis - moving, preparing to take flight, but knowing it’s not quite time. It’s trees making their buds - growing, getting ready to burst, but knowing it’s not quite time.
This idea of nature’s quiet, slow preparation for when the environment becomes hospitable to growth again has plagued my mind recently. This forced pause that nature gives itself is beautiful. In most places, like where I live, our environments change. Seasons change, and the environment slowly becomes inhospitable to the rate of growth we love to see.
As a society of modern humans, we like to forget that we are nature, too. We get anxious when we’re forced to pause this time of year. The days become short, and we pine for the seasons of long, warm days. We look at these winter days like “nothing is happening”.
What I ask us to consider is where the value is for this moment. Why does nature rest? Why do we have to slow down sometimes, even if we don’t want to?
The winter cold is such a necessary step for many of our plants. As an example, let’s consider seeds. Lots of plants, but especially our native species go to seed at some point during the growing season, and those seeds drop to the ground. If our growing season temperatures never fluctuated to the winter extreme, those seeds wouldn’t get the cold germination they require and thus, wouldn’t grow! Those seeds need a period of inactivity to be successful in the next season.
You can find examples of the necessity of rest in winter in countless places in our outdoor world, but I also want to remind you that just because things out there appear quiet, there’s actually a lot going on.
Just like we’re planning our gardens and purchasing seeds and preparing growing medium and countless other tasks, nature is doing the same. As I mentioned earlier, the trees and shrubs are preparing their leaf buds to burst in the spring, showering us with a vision of green leaves and flowers around every corner. The microbes and nutrients in your soil are slowly working through what’s left there from last year.
A reminder I love from my garden of the slow but not inactive rest period we’re in right now is my compost bin. I’ve added to it throughout the winter, and though it doesn’t break down anywhere near as quickly now as it does in the warmer months, there are still changes in there. Fungus grows, and little bugs make the bin their winter cabin, feasting slowly throughout the winter when the temperatures rise enough.
So, if you’re like me and this time of year makes you anxious for summer, I encourage you to take nature’s cue and enjoy the moments of rest and quiet, small productivity. Then, when we get to spring, we’ll be just as ready to spring back to all as our plants are!
If you haven’t started preparing for the coming growing season, here are some quick and easy steps you can take that don’t require too much time:
Map out your growing areas or areas where you want to start growing this year.
Decide what you want to grow where. Don’t forget to consider companion and competing plants and species in your plants! Also, remember to introduce as much variety in your spaces as you can to encourage predator insects and protect against disease in your plants.
Enjoy your slow moments!