Roasted garlic for soup, gluten free pancakes, pizza, and garlic-parmesan noodles with kale and egg...
Food is so important in the winter, especially when you live deep in the woods and far from any semblance of an actual town, the mountains of snow on either side of your driveway are 6 feet tall and your winter is of the Canadian variety: six months long and ruthless!
I'm not complaining. I really am not. This past winter has been full of newness and blessings, warmth and love. I have fared well, sitting in that rocking chair before the fire with a pile of wool on my lap and a basket of felting supplies beside me, the kiddos playing and playing and playing around me. This house is so warm and wonderful, I am just completely in love with it.
As for the food aspect of our hibernation, well, once I emerged from that post-traumatic-moving-stress business, I kicked right into baking/cooking mode, and I think we have been doing pretty good. Jason, Jude and I did have a 24-hour flu last week and Bella had one a few weeks back, but the recuperation happened swiftly so I think our immune systems are doing well. We seem to eat a lot of kale, spinach and garlic in the winter, so that is a good thing. I really miss the overwhelming collection of eggs piling up in baskets on the counter from years past - we had all our chickens processed before moving here, as both a means to uncomplicate the move (if that was even possible!) and get ourselves off to a good start with a freezer full of our own free range chickens - and while we will be picking up a new brood of peeping chicks next month - it will still be quite some time until we have those wonderful, delicious eggs again! I think fresh chicken eggs have been one of the truly greatest joys in my life. I pondered this as I walked back from the barn this morning, a bucket in my hand and my fingers covered with lanolin from petting Noble and Teapot, who so love to snuggle once they've finished their breakfast. Apparently I am very simple, and so are my joys! The eggs, and my beautiful sheep. These two things are so wonderful, so miraculous to me in their natural beauty and goodness, that they bring me back to a place of center when I am struggling with my purpose on the planet, my reason for living, how to cope with being such a sensitive being in an overwhelming world...etc etc etc.
I often say to my husband, "It doesn't take much to make me happy" and most of the time, it is in regard to something simple - a great hike in the woods, an awesome homemade meal, a flour grinder! Right now it would be a small cabin on the edge of the woods - that's now asking for much, right? :) I'm thinking about new chicks this Spring also; I'm tired of buying eggs.
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