Take Rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.

Ovid

We cannot speak for the weather where you are, but Northeast Ohio continues to experience a very mild winter.

While we have experienced some seasonably chilly temperatures in the past week, including single digit lows, we also have days like today where the thermometer hits into the mid-50s. Couple that with the fact that we’ve had very little snowfall for the year and people start to get antsy.

“Can I put grass seed down now for spring?”

“What fertilizer can I put on my lawn this time of year?”

“Is it too early to start my tomatoes indoors?”

All questions Todd has fielded in the past week alone from folks eagerly anticipating Spring’s arrival.

And who can blame them? Spring certainly feels like it is right around the corner.

Forty one days to go, for those of you counting down.

We get it. We’re tempted to get started too. It’s hard to resist.

But… winter.

Forty one more days of winter to be precise. And early Spring can be a crap shoot in Ohio too. Just two years ago we had snowfall as late as the second Sunday in May. On Mother’s Day, of all days!

So maybe hold off a couple more weeks. Okay? Maybe late February think about starting the brassicas. They’re cold hearty enough to survive a bit of frost. Just don’t start too early. Your plants will get leggy before you get them into the soil. Save the tomatoes and peppers for even later in the year.

Trust us. We know.

We speak from experience.

So instead of leaping into Spring, take a few weeks to breathe. Trust the groundhog’s advice. Take time to rest.

That’s what we did this week.

Or at least as much as we could.

It can be challenging. There’s always work to be done. There’s always another project to start/continue/finish. There are always demands that take us away from the homestead. Throw in working off farm jobs and it can feel like there’s never enough time.

There’s not.

But this week we made the time.

Because Catie, our first to leave the nest, was in town. All the way back home from Indiana. And she brought Avery Jean, our amazingly chunky-cute granddaughter.

The timing was perfect, actually. We missed Christmas together because of Winter Storm Elliot. Travelling to Ohio during a powerful winter storm wouldn’t have been prudent for a young couple and their infant daughter. We just had to wait.

But now, a little over a month after Christmas, we could gather here at the homestead. Doing so also gave Catie the time to travel to see both relatives and friends she has missed. A brief respite she may have needed just as much as we, as grandparents, wanted the added time with little Avery Jean.

So this past week was an excellent time to take a moment for ourselves as a family. A time to catch our breath. A time to come together. A time to experience a little rest.

Because when it comes right down to it, those are some of what matters most. Time together. Quality time. And rest.

As homesteaders we care about the quality of so many things. We grow our own vegetables, knowing that nothing beats the taste of a vine ripened tomato. We raise our own laying flock, knowing that our egg beats anything in the store’s cooler. We purchase our beef, knowing that it is grass fed and ethically raised right across our lane.

And so we must raise our families in the same manner. Knowing that they are loved and welcomed whenever they come home. That the homestead is always their home. And here, they may find refuge and rest.