Notes from the Land: An Inner Flame in Winter
The season's report from Madeleine Rowan-Davis, Antica Terra’s VP of Polyculture
Meditations on winter from where we are, as relayed by Madeleine Rowan-Davis, Antica Terra’s VP of Polyculture. Amidst the chill of January, we find time to pause on what the season inspires while looking ahead—recognizing the ways we must (in all ways) ground down, and forge foundations in order to stretch, extend outward, and truly bloom.
“Rudolf Steiner's Calendar of the Soul is a collection of meditations that correspond to each week of the calendar year.
This week's meditation is upon the cold of winter that can at the same time kindle an inner flame on the “hearth of human souls”:
The soul's creative power
Out of the core of heart is striving
To kindle in the human life
For righteous acts, the godly forces,
So it may mold itself
In human love and also human deeds.
It is cold and getting colder, with snow forecasted potentially for the next week. And with that, I can imagine that winter will only too soon have run its course. It’s a feeling that certainly enlivens motivation, inspiring wrapping up planning and organizing activities in order to greet the new season from a place of preparedness— ready to adjust from a place of reason and intention rather than reactivity.
In the vineyard, this cold means we are waiting a little longer to begin collecting brush weight data, which involves pruning our sample vines.
There is a belief that pruning may hasten the release of dormancy in buds, making them more susceptible to cold damage; it’s certainly been shown that delaying pruning can (at least in the short term) delay bud break. So with bitter cold in the forecast—when the option exists to wait a little longer to prune—we’ll take it. I’m hopeful the weather will align with the biodynamic calendar, allowing for the most conducive pruning window possible.
In the meantime, vine structure decisions are complete and we’ll spend this week clearing away the cuttings in preparation of what’s ahead. Next up: continuing last summer’s work of replacing bamboo stakes with more solid rebar, allowing us to run our equipment with a sensitivity for nurturing delicate young plants.”
Explore the archives across earlier installments of Dispatches from the Land:
From Harvest: “There is love in this labor, in the tending and trust, in the steady rhythm of care that ties one season to the next. And as the rains begin, I feel the vineyard exhale, settling in, as if to say, all will be well.”
From Fall: “We are here right now, focus centered on the circle of bright light in the beam of a headlamp, whatever will happen tomorrow or next week is not a problem for now.”
From Summer: “This is a really magical period of year for a viticulturist…”