Yule
Its the Winter Solstice! Its the longest night of the year (although sadly not the coldest, the worst of Winter is yet to come!) Every day we get back a little daylight until it peaks at the Summer Solstice on December 22.
Yule in the Northern Hemisphere is celebrated at the same time as Christmas (there’s a lot of Pagan/Christian overlap, its a whole thing). Ever wondered where the Christmas Tree comes from? Ancient people’s would bring evergreen trees into their homes to signify renewal (and probably to see something green even for a few weeks!). Here in the Southern Hemisphere, we get Christmas in (almost) July.
Yule is a time of rebirth, a time of deep sleep, waking into fertility. Its a time of rest, but thoughtful rest. Its a time to plan your Spring garden, decide on a course for the year ahead, and to reset.
We celebrate Yule by having a small fire (we’re in the suburbs after all!), and making some S’mores (our son’s favourite). We also bake a lot of far too sweet treats, and cook some great roasts and stews. Thankfully we don’t get any snow here in the South West of Sydney, so even through winter we can grow veggies.
This year however, we decided to sacrifice our winter garden to upgrade our veggie garden. We have been collecting raised garden beds off marketplace for a year, so while the garden was fallow, we started transforming our in ground beds into raised beds, which is a lot of work, and for which I rely on my husband (physical work is beyond me for the most part). We should be finished in time to plant out a full spring garden!
The beds will make it much easier for me to manage the garden, as even that little bit more height means less bending or crawling around!
I’ve also started a YouTube channel! Its my place along with this blog, to share things I love. I hope very much that in the next year it goes from a hobby to an income, but I plan only what and when I want, so let it be in the universe’s hands!
I wish you all a very happy Yule. Here’s to the coming of the light! ✨
Kerrie x