After a night and day of constant heavy snow and strong wind we got a winter landscape. It is time to stop field labours. Daily routine changes, outside activities are being suspended, days are shorter, allowing the farmer to spend more time with his or her family, make quilts, bake holiday favourites, smoke a pipe while sitting at the fireplace, drink hot ale, write a journal and enjoy playing monopoly with neighbours.

There is no power on this earth that could disturb a farmers peaceful, solemn and deep winter sleep. It isn’t budget planning, seed choosing and calculating, or looking for a seasonal job, not even winter conference prices, shoveling snow, season extension, jump starting plants, nothing.

Thanks for reading, have fun this winter! See you next season, except for occasional entries.

I was grocery shopping the other day and I discovered a simple truth. I was about to get milk, regular conventional milk, which was 2 dollars and something per half a gallon container. When reaching it, I got distracted by that nice cardboard container of organic milk. It was 5 dollars per half a gallon, so I thought I couldn’t afford it, and I was about to go and get some bagels but than this thought came to my mind: I have some bread home, we are actually making bread at home, so I didn’t need bagels at that time. I decided to get organic milk and not to buy bagels. I spent the same amount of money that I planned in the first place.

That move made me think that there is a way to afford organic to some point, which would be a good start at least. It isn’t that hard to skip coffee and a donut at the gas station one time to save a buck, and then use that dollar to pay the difference for some organic yogurt. It is mostly just about switching from one pleasure to another.