What are your favorite things about the winter season?

We just had to adjust the clocks so my mind has been on the winter season.

Say, what is it about winter that you enjoy the most?

Share your thoughts, and any stories that you might have about the coldest season!

Bright blue skies and sparkling white snow.
Silence as a heavy snow falls.
All the tourists have gone away.
Road construction projects are finally shut down for the season.

Almost forgot, in winter my Dragons get to play!

While I am not a fan of having to heat my home, the winter season for my family is full of celebrations and get-togethers which I cherish.

I share my love through my work in the kitchen. Sharing a meal, especially one including ingredients that I have grown, feels fulfilling.

#1. SNOW!!
#2. SNOW!!
#3. COLD!!
#4. Low angle sunlight lights up our south facing great room—exactly as designed!!
#5. SNOW DAYS!!


Eric

My favorite thing is the cold dry Rocky Mountain air in Colorado. It gives me energy.

Also prepping for next growing season, starting new hugel berms before the ground freezes, moving herbs inside and propagating them, researching about new growing/propagation techniques etc...

In my area the locals complain about the cold at 32 F.   With that in mind, with the drop in humidity I get much more work done outside.  “Winter” won’t kick in around here until about Christmas, so until then I work outside with maybe a heavy shirt on.

Pushing my kid around on his LL Bean wood sled, I usually get laid off in winter so I finally get to get work done around my property, throwing rocks into frozen lakes so it makes that laser sound, getting to keep perishable food in the mud room so it doesn’t take up fridge space, seeing things that were hidden behind leaves during the summer.

The chance for good quality R&R, snuggling up in front of the (woodstove) fire with John & the dogs, a guilt-free time to pursue hobbies, pull things out of the freezer that were tossed in, because there wasn't time to make the jams, pie fillings, etc, that they were meant to be, and to reorganize things that became disorganized, during the busiest months.

Not being hot.
Getting to wear winter clothes.
The sound of snow.
Four-wheel drive.
Snowshoeing.

That said, winter isn't here yet and it's a little disconcerting!

I am in full agreement with John:

Low humidity

Humorous that locals think that 32 degrees=cold




Eric

Christmastime with all the singing and lights and making merry.  I also like a day or 2 of snow and how pretty it is.  Then I want it all to be done and spring to come.  Once we've had Christmas, and New Year's, and a day or 2 of snow then I have no use for winter anymore and I'm done.  Most of the winter here is dreary and rainy.

Oh, and the way the naked trees and their skeletons stand against the backdrop of the sky, I like that too.

The garden is retired for the season excepting some root crops and some greens like kale.
The grass is not growing so the mower is retired.
The weeds that grow do not need much managing as they die off when it warms up.

I can tackle large projects and maintenance without the distraction of the things above. Building projects, trail making/clearing, filling compost bins with chicken deep litter and replacing  with new carbon material using wood chips and dried grass that I bag with the mower.

Enjoying playing in the woods with kids with little foliage and hot tent camping at different spots on the property with all of the kids.

Rest.

Thank you Winter, for forcing me to slow down and heal.  

Physical labor every single day all day can take a toll on the body,

Well- after growing up in NY- (the "southern tier" and Irondequoit (walking distance from Lake Ontario) and Toledo Ohio, then Northern Wisconsin, (and owning Ice Skates and a Ski Doo -my first gas-guzzler), and then westicating to Washington and Oregon- Well, chasing fish under the ice is cool, skating on the roads during an ice storm, a grove of Birches with the Northern Lights overhead, to an ice storm in Oregon with everything sparkling... to having mild weather to prune the fruit trees (haven't had leaf drop on the fig trees yet)  I do like being able to work outside w/o dehydrating too fast to carry enough water is appreciated! That's top of my list...

more rest and by-the-woodstove time (maybe with a pot of twig tea on the go)
but also more time to do some heavy-labor jobs without sweating to death
more soups!
working on making food out of all the fall bounty

and then a bit later on in the winter, syrup season.

Winter is a time for solitude and reflection.

As much as I appreciate snow, there is something very primal about how the land looks right now, before the snow has set in: dried grasses, the rocks and mosses all visible from far away, leaves on the ground, the mountains grey and stern.

I am looking forward to getting more acorns processed during the winter…

I also love how the snow traps all the scents, and then during a thaw, when the river is rushing, the forests smell like…forest, a pure, indescribable scent.

Seeing tracks in the snow. Last year we saw moose! I hope to spot some again.

Wintergreen berries and leaf tea! And partridgeberries!!!

Making a pot of alder twig tea.

I also like to go exploring the forests more in winter. The warm season often feels too busy for that—wherever I go there is something I have to stop and pick. And with the leaves off the trees it’s easier to see the landscape. And so I often go further in winter.

Crisp breaths of icy winter air, sharp and minty and invigorating.

The quiet solitude of sound muffling snow that covers everything and sticks to the tops of every branch three inches deep.

Short winter power walks with my rescue dogs when my cheeks freeze and then coming back into a warm welcoming home, makes me appreciative of what I have there.

Absence of the bushfire season;  first lighting of the wood stove; free heat;  soup;  the chance to wear woollens once again.  
And for those who scoff at at the coldness of 32F - I don't take off my sweater until it gets to 64F  (20°C)  Please feel free to laugh your socks off!!!

Hot chocolate and Schnapps!

Yeah, when I was a teen in the arctic climes of N. Wisconsin, and Boston, well,  we endulged in plenty of winter sports with antifreeze like rum and Scotch or  other firewater: set down in the taboggan, pass the bottle back thru the crew, take a pull, kick off and down the hill, march back up, repeat. Or drive the snowmobile out of town and catch some Aurora action, and you bet we had whiskey along. Or with my younger brother at the wheel of what had been my grandad's white Caddy with fins, driving our double dates on an icy two-lane in N. Wisconsin, big flakes falling and he throws the caddy into a skid in the pitch-dark, cuts the headlights and puts the emergency flashers on. Hey! crusty plow ridge on both sides with dwarf spruce trees to stop us if the plowridge fails. The highway straight for miles... Now I'm in the Subtropics of the Maritime NW, no longer a teenager and it's time for foraging barnacles and mussels on the rocks on a minus tide, or maybe Cross-Country or snow shoes to a hotsprings if there's a 4x4 with snowtires and chains available. Now, in the tropics of the Maritime Pacific Coast, it is definitely Hot Springs time, (snow and road considerations) (or fire up the sauna or hot tub in the low country) Geographical note: in Washington and Oregon the coast, coast range, and the valleys or basins that are west of the cascades has the bulk of the population...
Continuing eastward are the Cascade mountains and most of the volcanoes, with associated hot springs, mines, Hydro plants with their reservoirs and the last old growth trees. I do recall numerous Ice storms in Portland because the Columbia river cut thru the mountains as they rose, so the cold continental air turned rain into skating in the streets. I've not been to the Breitenbush Hot springs resort since a fire years ago, but for decades before, if the road in was plowed, you could rent a cabin, eat hot meals in the lodge, cross country ski like mad, and maybe see the aurora from a hot tub w/o city lights. That's first class fun in the winter, an hour or two from home.

Leisurely infrastructure work on the garden…resetting up the pathways with wood chips, pruning trees & bushes, setting leaves & mulch, just “being” with my gardens so new spring plans can generate.
And indoors, sipping lots of tea while catching up on reading. Looking through seed catalogues.
Lots of baking! Bread. Muffins. Cookies.

I love the quiet of the forest. I love jumping into frozen lakes and feeling alive. I love enjoying the jam my community has shared with me from the summers berry harvest

I clicked on this one for inspiration from reading others' posts, since I'm not looking forward to winter, now my least favorite season. And I second whoever said they enjoy the beauty of the first couple snows but then they want spring. I once wrote a poem about that, about how a February snow might look like a December snow but it doesn't get the same appreciation from me.
But now that I'm inspired, I'll name the greater energy I have when temperatures drop, and everything about wood heat--well, my husband does most of the work but I enjoy stacking firewood on the porch and then in its spot in the house, kindling and feeding the fire, having hot water that doesn't require burning propane, the smell of woodsmoke outside, and also using the oven a lot without feeling apologetic about the extra heat in the house. Looking through seed catalogs is another winter pleasure.

Cross country skiing.

Twice a week, I coach kinders and first-graders, and I get to see them go from barely standing on their skis to gliding around the tracks.

My son's a freshman and is on the comp team now. For years he chased after me, now I get to chase after him.

We're not in winter really yet, but definitely not summer any more. I love the colours on the hills and dark clear skies. Having the stove on all the time so I can cook proper dinners from scratch without waiting or feeling extravagant; means I get plenty of hot water too. Shorter hours in my store, so there ought to be more free time, but doesn't seem to work that way. Fewer tourists. Looking forwards to a break at Xmas and Hogmanay!

Winter is time to head to the coast for foraging, and to go to the places the migratory birds visit (not far from here, towards Corvallis, is the first wildlife sanctuary in the world. I saw my 3rd. Trumpeter Swan (yes, confirmed, (and my first 2 were at the refuge in Harney Co. OR, nearly to NE Nevada.) It's when the Cackler Geese come to visit my neighborhood sanctuary: a small subspecies of Canada Geese,  that travel in large flocks. And it's SAUNA time! (I have friends 1 county North who have a winter Sunday Sauna & potluck, very nice. And it's hard to get my cat off my lap if I'm sitting still, like now, she's crashed out, opportunist that she is.

I like winter because I like fires when it's cold out. Living around the Great Lakes we always did things in the dark because the days were short, and sledding and tabogganing were fun at night. Add a fire and hot chocolate, hot dogs (good ones! not cheapos) And I was perusing the postings and realized that winter is a good time for biochar, and at least in the sub-tropical maritime NW in climate change times, It's not too hard to dig. SO: I'ma going to combine the traditional charcoal burn pit with my garden bed pattern, and use fruit-tree prunings for feedstock. When the burn is ready, quench and add fertility & some finished compost. All in the pattern of garden beds I've established. I expect to have a first report out before March.