Taking Stock – A Winter Perspective

Over the past several Winters, I have learned to appreciate the order of Winter and what it hides. What I mean to say is, the landscape appears with greater contrast and definitive edge. The manner in which the switch grass outlines the cropland while winter wheat works to take hold is a clear example. A hardwood tree also provides stark contrast as their limbs appear against a clear Winter sky. The great complex of limbs seen in Winter provides us a better appreciation for the size of an Oak that we do not recognize during the busy growing season. The messy leaves on the trees and herb layer of a forest simply hide shape and edge.

I have found Winter walks to be a great opportunity to take stock around your farm and consider the management you wish to take with your land before Spring arrives and everything gets busy with growing. As Spring is rapidly approaching and the Winter winds lay down, it is a great time to take stock of your land and appreciate the simplicity and contrast of Winter. I hope you do.

I find it appropriate to share this quote from Andrew Wyeth, as he clearly celebrated Winter through his style of Realism and the art he created in the Brandywine Valley of Pennsylvania. Be Well.

“I prefer winter and Fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape–the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show. “
–Andrew Wyeth

Watercolor by Andrew Wyeth