Meara (00:01)
Have you ever noticed that when the air starts getting cooler, everything we've been putting off suddenly feels like it needs to be done yesterday? Your yard, your house, all those projects that you've been meaning to finish, and suddenly winter is right at our back door. We're supposed to be preparing for a season of slowing down. So the question is, why does it feel like we're racing to get there? Welcome back to the House of Noor. I'm Mira.
We've recently moved into a home with some land and I've been spending quite a bit of my time outside trying to get things ready for winter. We've been planting trees. The R Borvite trees, my eleven year old and I have been working around the property and we planted eighteen of these trees literally in just two days. Only because of the weather. We probably would have had it done the first day, but it
It had me exhausted. And every time I look outside, I see something else that I'm wanting to do. And I've been thinking about how strange this is because as much as I love being outdoors and working on things, I'm actually looking forward to winter this year. And which if you know me, it's surprising because I absolutely hate winter. I don't like the freezing temperatures. I don't like the fact that the days are short, and I don't like being stuck inside of the home.
when we can be outside relaxing or tending to our garden. But this year it feels a little different for us. I am looking forward to being inside more and being able to make things with the girls and have time for projects that don't involve being outside digging holes or, you know, hauling dirt around the yard. And it's not that I'm looking forward to winter itself as much as I'm looking forward to the change of our home, our our pace.
⁓ we spend so much time thinking about, you know, everything we need to finish before winter arrives that we don't always consider what the season itself might be trying to offer us. And that's something that I've been thinking about as we're getting settled here into our new home. Something we've been doing lately is gathering these wild vines. We did research first because I know a lot of them can be poisonous. And we have these vines around our property.
That the girls found that were climbing through the ground. And the girls actually love pulling these weeds. So that got me curious about what we could do with these and if we could do anything at all. So after identifying them and going around our property, we discovered that these could be used for crafts, including weaving baskets. And this is interesting because
These remind me of cordage, that natural rope or you know, the twine ⁓ made by twisting the plant fibers together. So instead of just pulling these up and getting rid of them, we've been collecting them and hanging them to dry so that this winter we'll be able to try and weave baskets. Now, I have no idea how they're gonna turn out, but I do love that this whole idea started with the elders finding something outside.
getting curious about it and just realizing, hey, we could actually be doing something with this. And hopefully next spring we'll have a few homemade baskets where we can take out into our vegetable garden. ⁓ if God willing we have a successful vegetable garden. And I would also love to experiment with natural colors and see if we can give our baskets different shades using these materials from nature as well. So we'll be identifying things on the property and preparing the vines we use because
⁓ you know, different types of things need different kinds of handling. But ⁓ we're also looking forward to making small batches of jam. I have been going to the store and finding what's left of the in season, you know, strawberries and blueberries. And ⁓ I have experimented in the past with jam making. And so we're going to ⁓ start with ⁓ you know, creating jam and keeping them on our shelves. I don't know why I'm
drawing a blank here, but you know, canning for the for the winter, ⁓ so we don't have to buy jam from the store and so that we still have the fresh fruits from the summer. And expi I've been experiencing creating my own tisans and spending more time in the kitchen. And in case you're wondering what a tisane is, ⁓ it's a herbal infusion made of things such as flowers and herbs. ⁓ you can even use fruits.
spices, it's huge in our house. My husband is South Asian, so we use a lot of fennel and a lot of green cardamom and a lot of clove and we'll just boil the heck out of those. ⁓ and rather than the leaves of traditional tea plants, these other things are what are considered a tazaine. So I've become really interested in experimenting with, you know, different combinations, learning about the ingredients and
seeing what flavors work well together and what flavors don't work well together. I just created this one and my husband tried it and he said it reminded him of it reminded him of of that lemon, you know, that lemon balm where you keep the mosquitoes away. And I'm just thinking, well, maybe you just had too much of it. So we're working on the on the measurements of that and whatnot. But
There's just something about the idea of spending fall and the afternoon creating my own blends and filling our kitchen with cardamom and cloves and different botanicals and enjoying the process without feeling, you know, like I have to rush through it. And as the weather is getting colder, these are the kinds of things that I'm looking forward to carrying into winter. And it's not a long list of projects that have to be finished, because I'm bad at doing that, but having the time to just actually enjoy doing something at my own pace. And
Right now everything outside feels like it has a deadline for me. The colder weather is coming, whether we're ready or not. But once winter arrives and everything shuts down, I just don't want to carry that same urgency inside with me because I definitely have a tendency to do that. And I know a lot of us do. And that's gonna be difficult for me because I know I'm not naturally somebody who enjoys sitting still.
I always have to accomplish something. I love to see the progress that I make and I love to get things done. And even when I'm exhausted, there's that part of me that feels like I should be doing something. And I know I'm not alone in that. You know, we live in a world where being busy has just become so part of our norm that sometimes just having nothing to do at all feels so uncomfortable.
And you know, you sit down and immediately your mind starts looking for something else that needs attention. Mine mine does for sure. And I wonder how mu how many of us are actually carrying that feeling through every season, you know, summer is busy, the kids are out of school, or you're taking off for vacation from work and fall is busy, you're preparing for winter, shutting down for the year, and then winter comes along, and instead of allowing ourselves to take the time to slow down.
We just find this whole list of new things to do inside to keep busy. Here I am organizing every closet or here we are planning everything for next year in spring. And we're coming up with these projects to fill all of our free time in the afternoon. And so before we know it, we've turned winter into just another season of catching up. But the question is what if we didn't? What if some evenings we just sat down and we worked on something for the simple fact of enjoying it?
without deciding when it needed to be finished. What if we let ourselves have a few quiet hours without trying to make them useful? I think that's something I'm gonna have to practice for myself because, you know, the truth is I really enjoy being busy. I don't wanna stop making things and I don't want to stop learning new skills. And I just don't want to feel like I have to be
Accomplishing something every minute of the day. And that's where the real challenge is for me. I'm a homeschool mom now. I homeschool three of my five girls. I also have to figure out what's going on with the other two while I'm homeschooling. I'm doing a podcast. I'm starting my business of selling my tains and my rollers. I'm helping my husband get his business off the ground. I'm planting the trees and preparing for everything in the fall. I work 52 hours a week. I'm doing it. I'm doing all of it. And it's not necessarily for me learning how to do less.
It's learning how to be comfortable with less urgency, for example. ⁓ there's something about our house getting quiet in the evening when I'm I only have one day off a week. So on that day off, I really enjoy spending that time with my my husband. So after the girls go to bed, I enjoy putting the kettle on, making something warm with cardamom or clothes and you know, getting comfortable in that blanket. And during the colder months,
those moments are gonna feel even nicer with the window cracked and the house is warm and then trying to love the fact that it's dark early outside and for a while, you know, there's nowhere that I need to be. ⁓ sometimes I might read, not a book. I really can't stay focused on a book, but I like to read short pat short passages and do ⁓ you know, studying something or whether I'm looking up how to do something or I might have some soft ambient music playing in the back on like
certain hurts levels. And sometimes I might just sit there with my tea and enjoy the quietness of my entire home. And I think we underestimate how nice it can be to have a little quiet without feeling the need to fill it. And that's what I'm looking for most about this winter, which is funny considering how much I've always disliked the season. Maybe I don't have to love the coldness of the weather to appreciate comes with it.
⁓ not necessarily doing less of everything, but having a different a different place. Time to make things, time to enjoy being home, time to spend with the girls and, you know, without feeling like we have to rush through our next activity. And time to just absolutely do nothing once in a while. And I know that I still have things that I would like to finish before the weather
really turns cold and knowing me probably find a few more. ⁓ but I'm trying to remind myself that winter isn't something that I have to be the clock to prepare for. It is another season of life and it has things to offer that the warmer months don't. We don't have to spend every season moving at the same pace. And maybe that's something we're thinking about as the days get shorter.
So instead of asking ourselves how much more we can squeeze into the day, maybe we can start asking what we'd actually like our days to feel like and look like. Because I don't want to spend the entire winter closed up just waiting for spring. Like I don't want to spend the entire fall rushing towards winter. I wanna be able to enjoy that moment and where we are. So I am curious, do you naturally slow down when winter comes or
Do you find yourself filling those quieter months with even more things to do? And I know a lot of you do the holidays as well, so I'm sure that's just an additional add-on to everything else. I would love to hear how you approach the colder seasons. If you have enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to follow the show with your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode.
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