Winter Musings, and the Pineapple Earrings of Hope

Today is the last day of November. Winter is rolling in fast. This afternoon, snow is falling, and it’s dim outside. Our Christmas stockings are hanging at the fireplace, the pellet stove is keeping us warm, we’re eating and sleeping more, and the boat has been winterized and shrink wrapped. We’re getting deep into the cold months now.

We have amaryllis blooming throughout the house, and I’m doting on the houseplants. In about two months, I’ll start pulling hyacinth and tulip bulbs out of refrigeration, potting them up, and placing them around the homestead for early spring blooms.

We’ve been busy in the kitchen, making kombucha, jun, yogurt, hummus, sprouts, and bread, and munching tsampa for breakfast and drinking hot suja every morning (using fatty coconut manna instead of butter). I invested in a Japanese cast iron tetsubin warmer to keep a big pot of tea hot all day on the weekends. We’re going to make tempeh this weekend, our first try at homemade. Lots of activity in the kitchen when the weather gets cold.

My husband and I met for the first time on November 19. It’s an anniversary we both remember each year. It was a day that changed both our lives for good. This year, he gave me a pair of DElla & Tasaki pavé crystal stud earrings, small, shaped like pineapples. The sparkling yellow, clear, and green crystals are striking, but these are not earrings I would usually wear. I love pineapples, but pineapple earrings?

But he had a plan in mind: he told me to save them until next summer and wear them on our first lunch date of summer at our favorite spot on Block Island, with the boat docked in the water, sun tanning our shoulders, and chilled, pineappley Blue Hawaiians in hand. 

Suddenly, these curious little earrings that he paid way too much for became exquisite to me. They’re about anticipation, warmth, life, eagerness, the return of summer, and a hope for the future. They’re absolutely beautiful. May we be blessed to live until next summer and that first lunch date of the season at The Oar.

But back to winter. I’ve been spending these longer nights thinking about next year’s food gardens. We’re going to double the amount of greens we cultivate – lettuces, kale, and spinach. Last summer, despite succession planting the greens beds, by the last third of the season I was hard-pressed to gather enough greens to keep me sane. All summer veggies are great, but the utter dearth of fresh greens in winter makes them a precious commodity when June arrives.

We may scale back tomato, cucumber, pepper, hot pepper, bean, and melon production. The effects of climate change have brought with them needed changes in our food growing strategy. Hot and dry weather-loving vegetables are becoming harder to grow in plenty. But greens don’t mind being wet, and they don’t need sun all day to thrive. In February, I’ll begin ordering greens seeds for April planting. It’s been a few months since summer ended and I’m craving fresh garden greens.

But let’s remain in the present moment, and not look to the past or future. Acceptance is powerful. A long winter is ahead of us. We have our cozy home, hot tea, nourishing food, great books, and an abundance of love. Life is meant to be lived joyously, no matter the season. It’s all pure, white light consciousness. Bring on December.

Barbie xo