Mick McEvoy of the Happy Farm and Plum Village Rewilding Project shares insights and offers simple, nourishing practices and reflections inspired by winter to help you care for your own well-being, and touch the insight of interbeing between people, plants, all beings and Mother Earth.
A Time to Rest
For all of our human ancestors the season of winter was a time of slowing down. Day light faded and temperatures dropped. Time was spent indoors close to the fire. We rested more.
One aspect of our collective present day experience of the winter season may be busyness, overwhelm and perhaps even exhaustion. We have been somewhat overtaken by a collective expectation that pushes many of us to overspend and over consume, often ignoring our limits, boundaries and capacities. We may even over socialise and tend to the needs of others (many of whom we love dearly) whilst often forgetting our own needs. All of this at time of year when our more than human family is slowing down and stopping.
Many beings are now hibernating or are in a deep period of winter dormancy. I learnt recently from a friend that during winter hibernation, some species of bears shut down their kidneys so they don’t need to urinate for three to five months. This enables them to stay tucked up warm and cosy in a deep restful winter sleep.
Did you know that during hibernation many species of squirrels can slow their heart beats down to four beats a minute? These same hibernating ground squirrels prevent their blood from freezing during winter by a process that includes cleansing their blood of impurities that would otherwise initiate ice crystal formation. A phenomenon known as supercooling. Meanwhile many of us humans are running around in deep winter with a never ending list of things to do, places to be and people to see.
Teachings of the Trees
Every winter on the Plum Village Happy Farm we will plant at least another dozen more fruit and nut trees into our food forest. Winter is the season of tree planting. This is because deciduous trees have dropped their leaves and they have entered a period of winter dormancy. They are no longer photosynthesising or transpiring through their leaves. They no longer absorb water and the minerals dissolved in that water through their roots. They enter a period of deep rest. They stop.
The Happy Farmers will visit local tree nurseries to purchase these young fruit and nut trees. In this winter season we buy these trees in a state that we call ‘bare root’. A bare root fruit tree is a deciduous tree sold without soil around its roots, typically younger and lighter; planting bare root fruit and nut trees promotes quicker establishment with less transplant shock, easier handling, and better adaptation to new soil conditions compared to potted trees.
In the tree nursery these bare rooted trees are set out in lines with their roots covered in sand so as not to dry out from the cold and dry winds. But they are in a state of deep dormancy.
As we plant these young fruit and nut trees on the Happy Farm we open ourselves to the teaching that the trees offer us. The same teaching that the neighbouring mighty oak forest also offers us. To let go as we enter winter. To slow down and to stop.
The act of planting any type of tree can be a deeply meaningful practice. Aware of the state of deep rest and dormancy that these beings are dwelling in as we plant them into their new home we are also invited to look deeply. To contemplate on the potentiality for a positive and abundant future.
As we plant these cherry, pear, apple and apricot trees we can stop and look deeply into the tightly wrapped dormant leaf buds that are spread across the branches of these trees. Looking deeply we can see the annual abundance of cherry, pear, apple and apricot that is contained within these young trees yet to manifest.
I believe every one of us should have the opportunity to plant a tree in winter during our lifetime. I hope we can all open ourselves to receive the teaching and wisdom of the deciduous trees that descend into dormancy each winter. Whilst also looking deeply into these trees and clearly seeing the future abundance of life and food they will offer that is yet to manifest in this winter season.
Reflective Practices
Stopping and Looking Deeply
If you feel called to learn from the wisdom of winter here are a few practices you could explore.
- Spend time outdoors with our living world this winter.
- Bear witness to the reality that the natural world has slowed down in this season.
- Look deeply at the reality of life in winter.
- Journal, walk or sit with the question ‘how can I slow down, stop and look deeply into my own life in this season of winter?’
We also invite you to enjoy this beautiful teaching by our beloved teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, about the profound practice of stopping and looking deeply in order to rest deeply and heal the body and mind.
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