Wintertime on the Homestead
Crystal Miller
This year winter has hit our homestead stronger than in the last several
years. We have had several cold and snowy days here, not always the norm for
us. I love them and I don’t. It makes travel difficult if not impossible at
times so it can be a challenge for Tobin to get back and forth to work. But he
seems to enjoy the challenge and growing up in Chicago means that snow is a well
known thing to him. These are the days I look around my homestead and think of
the summer days we would spend much of our time outside. It is hard to imagine
them at the moment with everything so cold and white.
One thing I do love about this weather is the fact that we can enjoy days
at home working to stay warm, having a pot of hot water going for cocoa and tea
and enjoying the things of a home. Of course my kids have also enjoyed bundling
up and going outside to sled down the hills, break up the ice in the animal
water containers and run with the dog. Then they come back inside and warm up
with hot cocoa and warm cups of tea.
These types of days make me think of the pioneers of times past. They make
me think of simple days and times where the work was not simple but the scope of
what was done in a day was. The goal on most days would be to stay warm and fed
and to keep ahead of the snow and cold as much as possible. No one worried if
they were going to be able to make it anywhere because there was no where to
go! Just time to live and a homestead to care for.
There is a nice sense of peace that comes with this. When I am snowed in
and enjoying the things of home, I forget the hustle and bustle the world
outside for a time and enjoy my focus on staying warm, keeping my family fed,
making sure the animals are doing o.k. and watching the beauty of the snow
fall. Wintertime on the homestead can be a special time of year.
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