The Chaos Time of the Year

As I was out digging up burdock roots yesterday I could hear a sound that was approaching from the east.  At first it just sounded like a strong gust of wind through the trees but it grew louder and louder.  I paused with the root tines shoved half way down in the dirt and looked around.  There was nothing to be seen...but boy was it getting louder, like a jumbled wall of sound heading in my direction.  Just before they came into view I recognized one call in thousands as a red wing black bird.  Then in mass, a flock of black birds burst over the treeline and flew overhead.  They streamed by the thousands heading toward the Mississippi River.  While I don't want to be too over-dramatic they did seem to blacken the sky for a few minutes.  Then they moved on, their sound slowly fading into the west.

There was a storm coming and the birds could feel it.  They would ride the waves of air that were pushed out ahead of the storm and allow it to help them on their journey south.  The birds had felt the shortening of days and began to flock together.  No longer feeling the urge to set up breeding territories, now they felt the urge to move to warmer climates.  They waited until the weather changed just enough to use it for their push.  I have seen it with many different bird, from geese to hawks to nighthawks to black birds.

All of nature feels the shortening of days.  It is felt all the way to the core of our DNA, of our instincts, of our connection with our ancestors.  Squirrels feel the need to gather nuts, bears feel the need to fatten up, butterflies feel the need to migrate...and humans feel the need as well.  Winter is coming, and for most of our specie's existence this means we need to get ready just like all the other animals.

People needed to make sure they had enough food set aside during the months that plants do not grow.  It take more calories to make it through cold times than it does for warm time.  Shelters need to be found, made, make stronger...whatever is needed.  A need grows with us as the days get shorter, a need to prepare, to get ready...winter is coming.

During this time we often get extra bursts of energy, which is a good thing because we need it to get the harvest in, the wood cut, the last of the warm weather chores done, the livestock moved to their winter pastures...and all of this is ON TOP OF our regular day to day living chores.

It doesn't matter if you have never once prepared yourself for winter.  It doesn't matter if you go to the grocery store twice a day to get what you need at that moment.  It doesn't matter if you spend more time worrying about fashion or who gets voted off what reality show on TV than you do worrying about day to day life.  You feel the change of season coming too.  It may be muted somewhat, it may come out in other ways, but you feel it.  How do I know?  Because you ancestors lived long enough to carry on your family line.  They needed to prepare for winter and they passed that genetic need down to you.  Just like the squirrel doesn't need a calendar to know it is time to gather nuts, you don't need anything other than the shortening days for your body to know it needs to get ready...for something.

 

If you are part of the prepper movement online you will notice more people coming onto prepper boards this time of year.  More end of the world predictions are felt at this time than any other time of the year.  There is more unrest, more terrorist plotting, more cult-like behavior happening now than there is at any other time of the year.  Depression will come as the days get really short but right now there is a revving up, a need to prepare...even if people are unaware of what they need to prepare for.

I feel it too and I love the chaos energy of the season.  While I would prefer people not plotting to take over the world, I know that this energy that we humans feel now makes us want to be ready.  Sleep is almost a four letter word here at my house, what with all the harvesting, dehydrating, gathering wood, stocking the root cellar, moving the looms out of their summer homes to sit in front of the fires, stocking up on livestock feed, moving livestock from summer quarters to winter quarters...the list seems endless.  Still I love doing it.  I love the feeling of all this chaos swirling all around me, opening doors that are closed for most of the rest of the year, giving me not only the energy and the strength to do what I normally can't, but opening my mind up as well so I can understand what at other times may be hard to do. 

 

The one main problem with chaos energy is that it is...well...chaotic.  It is not meant to be tamed.  Which is probably the reason I love it so much.  I am just along for the ride, like a surfer who rides the crest of a wave off the great oceans of the world.  I do my best to keep my balance and I let that energy carry me where it will.  To that end I have long learned this is not the time of the year to organize ANYTHING.  As I put food into the root cellar, I pretty much store it as it needs to be stored, hopefully I'll write a little note and pin it to the food or jars, or boxes of sand, so that I know what I have there and when I put that food up, but I don't try to make it organized in any way.  This will happen once this chaos energy wears off, when it is too cold to be outside for long periods of time.  THEN I will straighten up my storage areas.  Until that time comes though I just keep harvesting, cleaning, processing and putting things on the shelves.  If I took the time to straighten them now, something would go bad before I processed it for storage.  Now is the time to rush and get things done, later will be the time to rearrange those things into some kind of order.

 

It's really just too crazy of a time to worry about nice, neat shelves.  I'll take care of that when the first snow storm locks me and mine into the house and I either need to disappear into the cellars or else they will try to talk me into one more game of poker. lol  Then I will carefully put everything into its place, lined up by what it is and when I put it up.  By the end of the first stow storm I will have organized shelves of food that are just waiting for me to pick a meal from them.  But now, if you were to look into my cellars you would wonder how the tornado got down there.

 

So, if I seem a mite jealous of pictures of perfectly placed jars, and wonderfully organized storage barrels, bear with me.  I soon will join you in knowing what food is where.  Until then though I will keep putting it up, trying to stay one step of the weather and the plants, and hoping that I will have enough to get me through the next seven months before I can plant the first of spring's crops.  And I will be riding the chaos energies of the season.  Hang ten and cowabunga!