January 2025 - On The Mountain

Idyllic Seclusion

For the first half of January, the sun rarely came out. The days were consistently cold and dark, without much differentiation between day and night, especially during the full moon. I spent an inordinate amount of time inside, but the break was enjoyable and much-needed.

On those cold, grey days, the trees never shed their snow. They got heavier and heavier, and many broke under the weight. I’ve never seen so many broken in one season, the road is blocked by over a dozen fallen trees. It will have to be a problem for springtime since clearing the heavy green wood in the deep snow isn’t a priority.

The 100+ year old spruce tree I call ‘twin tip’ on account of it’s two symmetrical tops, lost one of it’s tops. Do I rename it?

Idyllic Winter Mornings

The days began with sipping coffee, stoking the fire, and reading. Each morning, I’d step outside to put food out for ‘Goldie’ and the birds. Goldie is a domestic rabbit whom I set loose in the yard. She follows me down the snowy footpaths, kicking up her heels and doing excited circles around me. I give her a snack and put food out for the birds, which thoroughly entertains the cats.

The three black cats all sit at the foot of our bed, chattering in that funny excited cat way, entertaining not just them, but me too.

Curt and I went on a ‘digital hiatus’, keeping off social media. We resolved that for the entire month, we would keep the wifi off until 4 pm, then turn it on to watch T.V. in the evenings. It was challenging at times, but I loved it. We’ve decided that going into February, we’re going to keep the same wifi schedule and use social media for a maximum of a half hour per day.

Winter Seclusion

Nearly two months ago we went to the city to run errands and take care of things, and as I’m writing this I’m realizing - that’s the last time I’ve been to town! It was a great sendoff, visiting with family and friends before the Christmas holidays ramped up. Since then, I haven’t laid eyes on another human but Curt.

Considering how much time we spend together and having the wifi off during the day, I’m even surprised at how well we’ve been getting along. We were given some heavy challenges throughout the month, and I’ll be sharing one challenge in a post titled ’ Farmyard Crime’. That said, I’m looking forward to a trip out sometime soon.

Sourdough, Mead and Sprouts

Ferments and Sprouts

To add more greens to our diet, we started sprouts. Whether it be on pizza, in soups, or in a sandwich, they’re a welcome addition to any meal and the pop of green in the house gets me excited to start this year’s garden. We also made a sourdough starter. After about a week of feeding it daily, I was starting to wonder if it was going to thrive. At the end of that same day I discovered - it had bubbled over not only onto the shelf it was sitting on, but the one below that. And the one below that.

Getting excited for February, we started fermenting a couple of small batches of mead-honey wine. We started with two small batches, I flavoured one with my wild tea and rose petals, and Curt added wild mint, raspberry tea and spruce tips to his. He got excited by how lively the little ferments were bubbling and started three more. One using brown sugar, another plain honey mead, and one very experimental one using orange candies.

City Lights

I woke up in the middle of the night and sat up in bed. Looking out the big windows, the nearly full moon lit the yard up so that you could see as though it was day. The days were socked in and dark, but when night fell the clouds would sneak away and the sky would open.

Across the night sky, I could see the Milky Way. Then in the view below, a glow. Clouds, or maybe a fog, sat way down on the nearest town and it was glowing. I thought about it for a while, ‘why are the clouds down there glowing?’ Just then, Curt sat up and we talked about it.

We concluded that it’s their streetlights and light pollution, making the clouds glow, not unlike when a Christmas tree bulb glows under snow.

Looking down at the glow of the town I felt like an outsider until I looked up again at the moon and the Milky Way and remembered we’re all spinning around the same star together.

With that thought I fell back to sleep and had the wildest dreams.

The Canada Jays like to make the most interesting snow angels

Cutting in Roads

All over the property, there are grown-over roads cut out of the mountainside. Some were built for mining a century ago, some are from when the property was logged before we bought it. They’re densely grown over with vine maples, alder, willow and aspen, making them unwalkable in the summer.

Winter has proven an ideal time to cut in roads once the snow has sured up enough to awkwardly walk on top of. The ticks aren’t out and it’s a nice temperature for working hard. The only catch is that everything we cut will have a 3-foot stump left under the snow, so we’ll need to go over our work once it melts. Curt put the wood chipper onto snowboards (genius!) making it mobile in the snow. He cuts down the awkward brush, while I chip it, leaving piles as we go.

In the middle of winter, seeing new roads to previously inaccessible areas of the property is downright thrilling. The chipped piles will be a nice soft road base and help slow new growth. Rounding a corner and losing view of where we started is really exciting, and we both stand looking at what we’ve accomplished, picturing what it’ll look like when the leaves begin.

More Winter to Come

Though January was secluded and sometimes difficult, I enjoyed short, dark and restful days. I’m looking forward to the long, sun-filled days of summer, - but could certainly wait another month or two. I’m so curious about what else winter might have in store.