Happy New Year!
For those of us who prefer to be outdoors, feeling Earth beneath our feet and sifting her soil through our fingers, winter can be a challenging time to feel connected to Nature. I choose to use the colder winter months for reflection on the past year’s projects, as well as planning, dreaming, and giving extra care to my indoor “jungle”. I still get outdoors as much as possible-regardless of temperatures, because it makes me feel healthier and more in tune with the things that are most important to me. I am fortunate to live in New Mexico these days where the winter is mostly sunny and the coldest days don’t last too long. (I hail from the Midwest where winters are long and cold and gray.)
When I start to get “cabin fever”, I don’t dwell on it–I find something to “feed the need”, so to speak. I remind myself that very soon it will be time to do the spring landscape cleanups but for now, I can work on improving my own garden plan, work on pending client projects, and start seeds–but not too early! Since my indoor jungle gets less attention during the warmer months, I also use this time to perform “maintenance” on my houseplants. While some experts suggest waiting until spring to transplant houseplants, because I keep my environment (both temperature and humidity) basically the same year-round, I repot plants as needed and have had no challenges related to timing.
At Bennu Organics, our business goals have changed somewhat for future seasons, because we want to focus on those things that are most important to us. Our mission and tagline have changed during this time of reflection, too. “Building relationships with the land and the people who live on it” describes our focus and is what truly motivates us. If you haven’t read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, I highly recommend it. She said, “Restoring land without restoring relationship is an empty exercise. It is relationship that will endure and relationship that will sustain the restored land.”
It is a gift to reconnect with our sacred Earth and develop a relationship of reciprocity-or give and take. We are often so disconnected from Earth that we don’t even realize that we, too, are Nature. We are part of this wonderful design that some call “creation”, and for me, the closer and more in tune I am to Earth, the better I feel overall. Giving back and investing in the spaces on which we live can be a spiritual practice, and one that has immeasurable rewards.
It would be my honor to help you create a space that feeds your spirit and benefits all the beings that live on it.
Let’s Get Growing!
Rae
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