A Year at Pleasant Hill Farm: January

Gen 8:  22 "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

 

Don't you love the predictable way seasons revolve? How sweet it is for the Lord to provide for a continual change in weather, with enough variability to keep us on our toes, but enough routine to allow us to make general plans. I love it!

One of my favorite picture books is A Year At Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Povensen. It’s a loving portrayal of one year of life on the authors’ farm, showing the cycle of hard work and rich life for the people (and animals) on the farm.  Reading this book to children during our town days probably had more to do with my longing to live in the country than I care to admit.

Older children and adults may enjoy Edith Holden's The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. I was so happy to find a hardcover copy at the library bookstore recently for $4, though I've since found that many copies can be obtained online for the same (including postage!) The 1977 edition is a facsimile of the original diary, which lay for seventy years undiscovered on the shelves on an English country house. It's printed on thick, brown paper made to look aged. The book is so gorgeous, it might be worth buying a second copy to use for frameable prints.

Edith Holden's diary depicts seasonal observations of animals, plants, and weather during the year of 1906 in her native Warwickshire. Her stunning watercolor paintings adorn the book, and she includes poetry and folk wisdom along with her nature notes. If a more beautiful example of a nature notebook exists, I don't know what it is. If you have children making nature notebooks, this book can serve as a wonderful inspiration. Otherwise, it makes for just plain fun reading.  

Because I love seasonal changes so much, I'm going to try to post a few pictures each month showing what's happening here at Pleasant Hill Farm. It's been a very mild winter so far, but we did have a small ice storm this month.

 

Ice covered blueberry bush.

My grandfather built this water wheel decades ago, and we brought it to our farm.
In better weather, the roof makes a good perch for children.

                                                                                  Birdfeeder Collin built. (And yes, it does need more birdseed!)

However, this picture of Peter cooling down from his afternoon run today (1/30)  is probably more representative of the strangely warm January we've been having. Can't say I'm complaining!