The snow is making quick work of blanketing the tree limbs outside my window. We’re forecasted to get five to eight inches where we live, coming on the heels of an unseasonably warm and muddy start of December. Earlier, we made preparations for the livestock. We stocked up on warm bedding in the shelters and fed everyone a hearty breakfast. Last time I checked, the pigs were still out in the snow, snooting around the base of a maple tree, unbothered. I tend to worry and fret about my animals, where in reality they’re doing exactly what they were bred to do naturally. But still, it helps me to relax and get cozy myself to know my animals are cared for and accounted for before the storm.
Heavy snow always puts me in a mood to read. It just feels like the world is slowing down for a moment, and it’s okay to not be outside working on all of those unfinished projects (unless a pipe bursts, or another winter emergency ensues), but for the most part, a snowy day is a permission slip to slow down and rest.
Over the last five years or so, I’ve gotten to attend the NOFA-NY winter conference a few times, manning an outreach table for my day job. While I enjoyed talking to other farmers and attending a few workshops, one of my favorite fixtures of the conference has always been the pop-up book store, featuring Chelsea Green titles on farming, gardening, sustainable living, and so much more. It always brought me back to the scholastic book fair at school, except I was able to nerd out on soil health, grazing, farm economics, and all of the things that make my farmer heart happy.
Since that conference is virtual, I won’t be able to restock my bookshelf in person this year. Thankfully, Chelsea Green is offering a special holiday sale for 35% off all orders, as well as free shipping for orders over $100! A few of my favorites that I own include ‘Nourishment’ by Fred Provenza, on the nutritional wisdom of grazing animals, ‘Silvopasture,’ a whole systems guide for working with trees, forages and animals by Steve Gabriel, and ‘Rebugging the Planet,’ which I just started, but is a fun read outside of my normal farm focus, and still so relevant to farming sustainably!
If you have recommended reading for winter, or any season, please share below!
Happy Reading,
—Olivia, Fuller Acres
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