Over the past several years, I’ve been working on listening to the signals nature sends me with the turn of each season. Living more harmoniously with the changing seasons is a goal of mine. I know I’m thriving when I’m most deeply connected to nature and when my mind, body, and spirit are in sync with the rhythm of the seasons.

Ancestral Connections to Nature

My ancestors lived this way instinctively. My grandparents and generations further back were connected to nature out of necessity. As homesteaders, they kept small homes that could be warmed by the heat of a coal burning furnace and many bodies packed in close together. When it was warm enough – and even when it wasn’t – they lived most of their days outdoors on the land. I can imagine my great-grandma’s excitement when the first signs of wild asparagus started shooting up after most of the winter preserves were running low and all of spring’s lush surprises arrived.

I feel these simple joys of nature are often forgotten in our fast paced lives. Modern life is growth oriented. Everything and everyone is expected to grow, climb, increase, progress. We put this same expectation on ourselves, our families, our careers, our homes, our relationships.

Spring: A Season of Growth and Hope

But nature is cyclical. There is a time for growth. We see this in the spring when there is new life in the air. The joy of the first sightings of early pussy willows and the fuzzy mauve crocus wildflowers fills me with immense hope. This tells me that it is time for me to bring my energy back up and out into the world. Spring makes me energetic and hopeful. I love thinking about what I will fill my baskets with this year while wildcrafting in our backcountry. I need this renewed sense of hope to live with more happiness and gratitude in my everyday life.    

Winter: A Time for Rest and Reflection

There is also a time for loss, dormancy, hibernation, quietude. A time to direct our energies inward. Herbalism has taught me that winter is a time to rest, sending our energy deep down into our roots. I feel this is a time to slow down and reflect on what is important in my life. A time to read more, to learn, to plan and to set intentions for myself as I continually grow and age.

I imagine my grandma would crave these quieter days when the gardens and fields lay dormant, allowing time to use her skills for handicrafts, quilting and catching up on letters to loved ones. I use these quieter and darker winter days to formulate new skin care recipes and dream up new soap scents for the coming months, all while enjoying the wood stove with my family and simmering another batch of bone broth soup. I feel gratitude to the long winter months of stillness for allowing me time to direct my energy inward.  

Balancing Business with Natural Cycles

It takes a lot of energy to run a handmade business, raise our children and show up as a strong partner beside my husband as we build our lives together. The demands and learning are endless, but so are the goals and the dreams. I have built my brand around inspiration of the past and plants of the prairies to create all-natural skin and body care products which are influenced by the seasons. The plants remind me that we are constantly growing and aging. We are not meant to always stay the same, but to embrace our changing selves. It is necessary to have periods of rest and to ground ourselves at the roots in order to have sustainable energy.

In the hustle of our growth-oriented lives, we can forget that this is a necessary part of being alive. We criticize ourselves for needing to withdraw, to hit pause or reset on our routines or goals. But this is what we are meant to do. Nothing is permanent; everything has a season.

Seasonal Joys and Rhythms

Recognizing nature’s rhythms allows me to enjoy simple, yet profound, seasonal delights: sowing seeds, new plants to harvest for my creations, inspiration to refresh the decor in our soap shack, and the honks of ‘hello’ and ‘farewell’ from geese traveling overhead. Each season offers me its own enchantment.

I am learning to live by the seasons.

Article From: Spring 2022 Issue #6

Photography Credit: Morgan Storch

More Spring Articles

• Spring is For Chickens
• Spring’s Promise: First Signs of Spring
• Spring Centrepiece With Naturally Dyed Eggs & Pussy Willow Nest
• 5 Foraging Basics For Beginners