Wow. What an exhausting week it’s been!
We were nonstop prepping for this snowstorm for a full week before it hit, but did not have any frame of reference for what single digits or prolonged freezing temperatures actually means for the garden plants, the outside critters, or ourselves trying to stay warm in a 100-yr-old farmhouse. The idea of being without running water or electricity for many days during a blizzard was also not on our radar at all, and now in hindsight we’re realizing that we could have been much better prepared. This has been a very humbling experience, and we know our discomfort has been minor compared to so many others suffering outside without a warmish place at all.
Now that we’ve gotten through this and the sun is shining, we’re going to take some time to reflect on what we can do better to winterize our living situation and improve our sustainability here - for our homestead and our community at large.
We’re also viewing the garden destruction as a great opportunity for observation. We’ve poured so much energy lately into creating beautiful, edible and medicinal garden spaces, and no doubt they took a giant hit this week. But some changes may actually be for the best, as they’ll allow us to start new and better. And thanks to some neighbors and the tremendous greenhouse rescue efforts we undertook when the power went out (more in a future post), we have lots of new plant babies to stick in the ground soon. 🌱🌼 We’re all still in recovery mode over here, but once everyone regroups and we give the plants time to work themselves out, we’ll make a post that notes what worked and what didn’t.
