I’m sure y’all are thinking about holiday food. But we’re over here thinking about WINTER PLANS! And Projects!

During “The Season,” one of our classic topics of conversation is “What Projects We Hope To Do When We Have Time and Energy.” For us, this happens when the farm work decreases and we have more extracurricular time – meaning, Winter!

Darker hours mean less time outside and more rest, resulting in more mental and physical capacity to try new things or return to beloved hobbies. Right now, those dreamed-of projects are coming out of the mental woodwork and into reality. So far, we’ve seen folks planting garlic in home gardens, making vegetable-inspired embroidery, advancing in home construction, learning complex vehicle mechanics, cooking ravioli from scratch… The German language club has been going strong all year, so I can’t speak for them (especially not in German), but I did overhear that they have been entering some particularly tricky verb tense territory recently. A few of us are knitting socks, with the more experienced lending guidance and books to us who are new to tiny needles and tiny yarn. The corn and indigo grown on our little crew plot over the summer is all processed and ready to be turned into tortillas and dye, respectively.

We also love food projects! Sauerkraut with red and green cabbage, fermented watermelon radishes or purple daikons, pickled carrots or red onions, kvass and borscht for the beet lovers, homemade potstickers with hearty kale and maybe some pork from last year’s pigs, squash pies or empanadas… We have more emotional capacity to truly love the food we have been working hard to grow all year.

I love how beautifully creative we all are. So many skills and passions really get to bloom around here this time of year, as the fields get a chance to rest.

-Amy