Pruning in the Depths of Winter
How nature shows us that the act of removal of the unnecessary is best done when it feels there is little more we can remove
It’s been busy the last few weeks so I wrote this one quickly so forgive errors. I like to do more editing but didn’t have the time this week. I did really want to talk about pruning with you though :)
The wind raged over the landscape of the hills. Hitting the windows with icy rain that turned the smooth glass into a sea-like surface texture to our windows by morning. The sun beamed through the layers of ice cased on the windows to sparkle on the floors of our home. Keeping us encased in another world. The high winds tore at the frozen and now icy-coated woods and trees. More plant stalks fell and the understory of the pines and maple forests were now coated in branches on top of the snow.
I took a walk that day because the ice meant carving my way through the top layer with every step of my skis, tearing at my pant legs as if reminding me of the fragility of my existence. Wandering on the road with ice tracks on to keep me from slipping in the places that looked even to my trained eye-safe, I noted the way that the wind had cleared away the unnecessary all over me.
Every season of nature and life involves pruning. The timing of these things though is very different depending on the season though and also it can feel they have different meanings as well.
In summer, we prune away excess leaves and undergrowth, we clip back seed heads to continue the growth, or we help the plants focus their energy to become stronger and more directed use of their limited time with us. It is an act of intention and focus or even care to help the plant. More of a symbiotic relationship that leaves my hands smelling of herbs and earth in every way I long for in the depths of winter.
In spring, pruning is cutting back the old growth that is dead now to make room for new growth. It is a time of rejuvenation and celebration that the old has served its work to feed the birds and act as a habitat, but now it can be turned to ash and laid to become a nutrient store for more organisms as it continues its cycle in the world. This to me is the most beautiful of all prunings. The one where the decisions are clear and feel like trimming our hair short after a new season or chapter in life has begun. It is full of excitement and anticipation.
In fall, we cut plants to the soil level that no longer are needed in our garden. We watch as the leaves on trees are released and laid to the ground to cover the forest floor and aid in the work of the decomposition of what once was for what will be. It is a time of release and letting go. The plants typically do the work without our involvement. Instead, we take what they leave as a resource for our gardens that feed us. We celebrate their release and their aging as the colors shift and it feels like a love song written of the days of summer. Like a great sunset, it all fades beautifully from branch to ground. Sadly, It is the sign of the end of our verdant season of growth and a signal of rest.
Then there is winter. In the depths of the snow when everything growing has halted. When everything feels removed. The final stores of our storage from fall feel at the end is when we look at our fruit and nut trees with the desire to trim them away. At the very moment when we feel we already don’t have enough, we then choose to remove more. I always struggle with this one. I look at my plants they are hard to decipher about what must go and what must stay I feel I would enjoy it more if I knew there was new growth, but if I wait to prune my shrubs and trees till there is no growth, I have waited too long.
Seeing the wind prune the forests the last few weeks, left me realizing nature is a wonderful guide in this pruning process. We all have been at points in life that must be done in the winter of our lives. We all have experienced these moments. Maybe it’s a point when work isn’t going that well and something unexpected happens and you have to shift things you never expected to. This pruning is the hardest of them all because we cannot easily see what will make us better to endure the new growth or create the best harvest in the next 6-7 months. We cannot always know. We can follow guides and suggestions but as I found myself this week hesitating to trim my Hazelnut trees knowing they would need it to create a healthy harvest, I felt unsure and not ready. Though I don’t rely on these trees for my livelihood, they are a part of our life. They grow nuts we love to harvest, but without the removal of some of the branches they will no longer be able to do that work.
At the very moment when we feel we already don’t have enough, we then choose to remove more.
I in some way want the deer to come and do this for me. I want them to trim the branches as if they have a better instinct than I do, but no one can prune things in our life as well as we can so I shouldn’t expect that from the deer. Let’s be honest, the deer will decimate the trees and we will be left with something else entirely.
Pruning to me a necessity of life. It is the constant work of awareness and observation whether it be in our gardens/land or our lives. Some pruning is gentle or feels right and some of it takes work, hesitation, fear, and even a feeling of failure. The ending of a relationship. The birth of a child and the shifting of day-to-day life. The realignment of budgets and the reassessment of luxuries. A move. A new job. Leaving something behind. The deletion of a social media platform. The choice not to go to an event because you have other priorities right now.
The list is extensive of the things that can be considered pruning in our lives. This winter, I have been finding my pruning aligns far more with the pruning I do in spring. I find that it is an awareness of what brought joy, but no longer does or things that are in the way of the life I desire and see for myself. These things are constant and continual. They have involved acknowledgment of parts of myself I hadn’t given space to as a result of the pruning of other things.
It just continues to remind me how similar we are to plants and other living things. Always pruning, shedding, and laying what no longer is working for us at our feet so there is room for new growth ahead of us. I am continually amazed by what happens in a life lived with this ideology and how much opens to reveal things I never anticipated.
I still have yet to prune the trees I need to, but I will this week. I will use it as a meditation on instinct and intuition. I will be guessing through the process even with all my knowledge, it still can feel hard to remove what I can decide will give life or take it away. The thing I have learned is that plants, like life, can be forgiving of our desire to try even if it isn’t exactly right. We can learn through the process a little more from year to year as we experience new moments of pruning in our lives.
Learning to Prune Our Lives
In the same way, we prune the fruit trees and plants on the land, we can do the same thing in our lives. What I have learned from pruning through the seasons in different ways are the different ways we do this in life effectively:
When new growth appears, remove the old: A note from spring pruning is that if you see there is something new erupting, the time has come to make room for it by releasing what is. This is the easiest sort of pruning. This I felt the most when I was pregnant and having kids. I saw a new life emerging but knew there were parts of life pre-kids that must be released.
Make it permanent: When I prune, I tend to create a pile of it for burning. Particularly woody cuttings. These don’t degrade quickly so I will burn them to make them more useful to the soil quicker. Maybe this is true in life too. If you are ending something, make that more permanent and useful quicker to you to making it hard to go back to what was.
Use Intuition: In the winter, I will go through the woods and touch branches on the trees, if they give and break, they are good to go. If they still hold maybe then give them more time. Everywhere in nature we find this sensitivity and it’s worthy of attention. Even in our lives. Look at what is there, test it a bit, is it time for it to move on? Can we live comfortably without it? Give it a moment to decide and if the give is there, prune it.
Know your goal: I find I can prune anything if I know why I am doing so. If the goal is something that aligns with the future I desire then I can work it out of my life if it isn’t leading me to where I am headed. We have to be highly self-aware about this, but it is why I always suggest end-of-season self-assessments such as the ones in my seasonal guides.
On my mind this week
Just some things happening and that I am thinking of lately:
Mini Trips: I like taking little trips in the winter. We took a great one 2 weeks ago to Colorado, but I love finding local spots to slip away to because they usually have great deals and it is a fun way to get a new look at your world when it all feels quite the same.
Top Gear Pick - base layers - I don’t think this is talked about enough, but with how cold it has been, I have been wearing my ski layers sometimes under my sweaters lately. It has made me far cozier. Though my favorite isn’t available anymore, this one from Halfdays looks super similar!
Folk School Launch: I am happy to share that I will be teaching a 3-day class this April for the brand new folk school in our area, Green Door Folk School. Check out the list of classes this spring. I love teaching and sharing ideas. It is so special to have this sort of learning as an option in our community in Traverse City and Leelanau. If you are coming to visit the area this summer, sign up to get announcements of summer classes and support this new option in our city.
Emerging buds: Just the other day when I was out skiing I saw leaves beginning to form on the plants. It made me realize how close to the end of winter we are becoming. I am feeling the urgency of garden planning.
Purpose and Desires: One of the things I keep coming to this year thus far is looking at everything in my life with the lens of whether it is connecting to my deeper desires in life. My time feels really limited this next year with finishing my schooling and with managing clients while being a parent so I feel I am asking a lot of questions of energy and desire. It’s been really revealing honestly.
Life Lately
It’s been a BUSY few weeks. Thus how I missed the last couple newsletters. Life is great but full right now. We have birthdays back to back and back again in our house. Like from January 17th to February 14th there is at least one birthday every week. So it’s a lot but in all the best ways! Not to mention being in the middle of an online course and gearing clients up for spring and summer.
Here are some descriptions of the above images. Sharing because I am not on Instagram:
1 and 2 Skiing in Colorado for My dad and my son’s birthdays was a totally wonderful and beautiful experience. It meant the world to us all especially after nearly losing my dad 3 years ago.
The deep snowy trails all around right now are all I am doing every day between times working and handling school work. Glad this pup pushes me out the door for 40-60 minutes a day to enjoy the silence of this perfect winter.
Heated outdoor pools are a great way to spend a day with kids! If you are in TC in the winter head to the Delamar and get a cabana for a few hours to wear the kids out.
Our hens started laying and I am so happy with our selection of breeds. We have these eggs every day coming into the house right now. We also learned we have a rooster! That was a fun surprise. His name is Mr. Bojangles btw.
LOTS of reading. I am always in the car line with a book right now. There is so much I am reading right now for school and my own desires and projects. So much is being taken.
We have just a little snow around here. That’s about 4 feet high I am guessing considering it is up to my chest. As I said, it’s been an amazing winter up here in the north.
Our chickens are thriving even in this very cold winter! I am so happy about them even though it is quite a fete right now to even get them their compost scraps from the kitchen right now. Trudging through 4 feet of snow is a lot!
The Snow moon in full glorious morning effect over the hills we look at. Snapped it for my amazing neighbors who sit on either side, but I enjoyed it too :)
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Beautiful, thanks for sharing :)