Cross-quarter days
The
cross-quarter days (rather than solstices and equinoxes) mark the
beginnings of seasons in ancient Irish and east Asian cultures.
Even though these four days --- halfway between the solstice and
equinox --- are primarily pagan holidays, we tend to celebrate them
without knowing it with Groundhog's Day, May Day, and Halloween.
And I've noticed that the cross-quarter days do feel like more
realistic representations of the annual divide than the more mainstream
seasonal holidays of Christmas/Solstice and Easter/Equinox.
Mark
and I mostly took All Soul's Day off to celebrate the onset of
winter. (As you can see, I couldn't quite resist putting the
first coat of paint on the newly christened East Wing since the
afternoon was so brilliant.) Although a bit of greenery remains
here and there, most of the leaves have fallen and we crossed two big
hurdles this weekend --- the first fire in the wood stove and the first
summer produce thawed out of the freezer. Neither was really
necessary since days are quite warm (once the sun comes up over the
hill around 11 am) and there's still gobs of food in the garden.
But both felt like nice splurges to mark the changing seasons. Happy
Winter!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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The East wing is looking good! I especially like the window arrangement. And that coat of paint suits it well.
When visiting New Zealand I once stayed in a house that was built in stages. Something was added every time the owner needed extra room. It was a slightly odd, but very interesting and homely house. Yours has the capability to grow in the same direction, I think.