Yes we all know it is true, yet for a few more months we may flirt with denial. On the farm every season plays a key aspect in the whole of farm life. A season for planting and baby animals, a season for growing, a season for preserving and butchering, and now I am looking ahead to the season of planning. It used to be that winter meant only planning. Mornings were spent homeschooling in front of the always humming wood stove, afternoons spent creating different soaps, breads, or some grandiose mess of a school project. Evenings were spent looking through seed catalogs highlighting nearly every add, plotting out hatching schedules, and many other planning ideas that rarely went as planned. As our farm progresses, winter is starting to become an extra long, very cold spring. Where animals still have to be fed (the bad side of heritage breeds-wintering over all your animals) the greenhouse still has viable crops, and things aren’t quite as sleepy as they once have been. Yet there still is a lot to do before winter is here. Electric water heaters need tested, bedding needs deepened, food stores need increased. Wood for the stove needs moved, blankets taken out of storage, and can goods need one last look through. Never can be too prepared. Winter is coming. The last of the fall crops should be harvested in the next few weeks. The dead corn stalks a haunting ghost of a once bountiful garden. They too will be pulled and given to the cows and hogs as the pasture slows and stops growing. Everything is getting ready for a much needed rest. I am ready for a rest. I am ready to cuddle up in front of the fire, read some mother earth news, and get inspired again. There is a sense of peace that comes from a soft blanket and the sound of a crackling fire, a mental recharge. I hope that you and your family will get inspired to take the winter as a planning season. To take some down time and prioritize your next season whatever that may be, and get inspired again.