Spring is in the air
Even with beautiful white snow still on the ground at Rocky Corner and the weather forecast calling for a few more days of snow, the days are getting longer, the sun is getting warmer, and it feels like spring is just around the corner.
The pandemic made the winter months feel even longer and darker than usual because we were not able to engage in the usual holiday gatherings with family and friends. We all felt the dark days of winter drag on and on, but now the sun is higher in the sky and nature is pushing its way to reemerge in the spring.
Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 14, giving us an additional hour of daylight and SPRING arrives at 5.37 am EDT on Saturday, March 20 when we mark the vernal equinox!
Something to think about
Although the sun is not assigned a gender in the English language, it is interesting that the sun is masculine in all of the romance languages but feminine in many Germanic languages, as is the Earth. Especially in spring, when the sun’s warmth causes nature to be reborn and burst forth with new life, the feminine qualities of the sun seem prevalent.
From Darkness to Light
As many cultures around the world watch the introspective influence of winter wane and feel the renewed energy of spring, they engage in some spring rituals. Many embark on spring cleaning of house and home (decluttering our lives also does wonders for the soul), and smudging ceremonies with a bundle of sage. Spring symbolizes growth and fertility. With the reemergence of light, warmth, plants, animals, come new ideas and fresh perspectives.
Spring Holidays
There are a number of holidays around this time of year to mark this new beginning: From the ancient Egyptians and Romans to Hindus in the East and Pagans in the West, civilizations have honored the arrival of spring through ceremony, ritual and festivals celebrating the abundance of sunlight and crops as well as the themes of revival, redemption and rebirth. These holidays include Holi, the Hindu festival of colors; Purim, a Jewish holiday observed in late winter/early spring commemorating the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia; the Pagan tradition of Ostara marking the arrival of spring; and Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We were all in shock last year around this time as we learned about Covid-19 and watched the virus spread through neighborhoods, cities, and eventually the entire world. It stopped us in our tracks and all we could do was emerge at 7 pm each evening to bang on pots as a well-deserved expression of thanks to hospital staff and other essential workers.
But, word on the news now is that Covid cases are dropping and we are all hopeful that we can enjoy everything that spring 2021 has to offer!
Spring is a Season for Planning and Planting
Long before Spring begins, farmers and gardeners think about what they will plant in the coming weeks and months to ensure a bountiful summer and fall season. A shortage of seeds available from the usual sellers present an added challenge this year.
Farmers and gardeners face challenges every growing season. They are problem-solvers, innovators, and we trust them to find a way to get us through this. We can help farmers by uplifting them, especially in poor and struggling communities.
Now, more than ever, we must support our communities by supporting local farmers and small businesses where we live.
Dreaming about your Connecticut home garden?
Future resident Brenda and her daughter Alani are offering organic seedlings in curated collections for various themed gardens. CT Seedlings is going live in a few days with seedling collections for sale. Plants for spring beds will be ready for pick up in April and summer beds in May. Here’s a sneak peek ctseedlings.com. Check back to the website in a week to see the on-line store.
I am a musician/artisan: A singer/songwriter who plays finger-style guitar but I have a passion for other string instruments and enjoy a number of musical styles: Sacred music with Anima Schola of the Benedictine Grange in West Redding, Traditional Celtic, Rock, Alternative and Folk. I grew up with extraordinarily talented parents who created beautiful custom cabinetry, fine arts and just about every conceivable craft. My parents, especially my Dad was a bit of a homesteader. He built the house I’m currently living in, we had chickens and ducks for eggs and got the neighborhood involved in composting, we had beautiful gardens and Dad was an early adopter of solar power.
w in the pioneers that started Rocky Corner was contagious, and she thought “here is a group of people that found a way to do what seemed so far out, when I had only been thinking about it. And they even recycle rocks – my kind of folks.”
ns in our large outdoor area.
She yearned for a more quiet and peaceful environment and since her brother has been living in southern CT for twenty years, she is already familiar with the CT experience. When she discovered Rocky Corner Cohousing, she was immediately drawn to everything about it and, after multiple inquiries and visits, she decided to move forward and purchase one of the homes in the community.
The fast-changing climate caused Lori to think seriously about joining a cohousing community where she can have her own garden and also benefit from the communal garden. She looks forward to living in a divers, multi-generational community that offers a balance between independence and interdependence. In Rocky Corner, she found like-minded individuals and families that are devoted to preserving, protecting, nurturing and regenerating the natural environment. In the not too distant future, we may even set up our own food coop at Rocky Corner, but until we do, there is always the Park Slope Food Coop only a short distance away.
Kyla and Kevin found out about Rocky Corner through Kyla’s parents, who thought it would be a great fit for them. So they came for the ride and decided that THIS is what they’ve been looking for.
Born in Manhattan, first generation American on my mother’s side, the youngest of three, with two older brothers, we moved cross country at age three to Tucson AZ followed by Knoxville TN, then on to San Antonio TX and eventually to East Paterson NJ—where I lived until age 19. Moving to NYC, I completed my undergrad degree at St. John’s University with a major in Art Ed but as timing would have it, NYC schools closed most of their music and art programs citywide that year. I applied to McGraw-Hill and was hired as a commercial artist trainee for one of their magazines. Eventually I moved on to freelance work, staying in NYC for a few more years. A short stint in San Miguel, Mexico, to study fine arts, and then an offer to start selling real estate in central CT (don’t ask) led me to a 45-year career in the real estate field.
Shanee: I was born in Boston, MA. My family moved to the suburb of Newton when I was a toddler. Worcester, MA, where I went to college, was an important influence in my life, as was a six-month internship at an ecumenical anti-apartheid center in South Africa in the mid-1980s. I became a clinical psychologist in my mid-30s and worked in several locations in the US (DC, Denver, Boston, and primarily NYC), both in the public sector (schools, clinics, etc.) and private practice. I also worked internationally in contexts of ethnic and political violence, including over 2.5 years as the psychologist for the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone and two years as psychologist/trainer with Center for Victims of Torture (an NGO), first in the refugee camps of Guinea (serving mostly Liberians) and later in a clinic in Jordan (mainly with Iraqis). I am a registered poetry therapist and mentor/supervisor in poetry therapy, and hold a MFA in creative writing from The New School. I have taught at several universities but have not felt drawn toward a mainstream academic career path. In recent years I have reinvented myself as a late-blooming literary scholar: writing (hopefully) original interpretations of classic novels and submitting these for publication in scholarly journals (with some success). I was living and working in Sierra Leone when I met my daughter Yana, who was 7 at that time. I first became her guardian and then legally adopted her. I have been raising her in the US since she was 11, while at the same time doing our best to maintain a soulful connection to her homeland and birth family. After living in a cramped apartment in New York City’s East Village, we moved to a small town in rural western Maine in 2016. Yana entered her first year at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and I combined teaching and practicing psychology with becoming a student again, immersing myself deeply in English and American literature, and earning a BA in English at the University of Maine (just completed). I love the Great American Songbook (listening, as well as singing), theater (mostly as an audience member, but I have also acted in several community theater productions with the Sandy River Players here in Maine), reading (primarily contemporary poetry and classic novels), and travel (worldwide). I’m excited to move to Rocky Corner because of the warm, friendly, and caring future-neighbors; the proximity to nature; the chance to spend time with new friends without having to drive anywhere; our beautiful newly-built house; and the chance to be less than 2 hours from NYC and only 15 min from New Haven while also having the simple pleasures, peacefulness, and human connections of a small rural town which we’ve learned to cherish in Maine.
and a future cohouser. She first was attracted to cohousing about 25 years ago knowing it would be a safe neighborhood for her gay family that included her partner, Brenda and their daughter, Alani. Today, she is still looking for an accepting community, but more importantly, she wants a way of life that is ecologically sustainable.
The 12 years I have been associated with the Rocky Corner project have been years of tremendous growth for myself. It’s amazing to me that I could grow so much during my 6th decade of life. I am more comfortable with myself, with my ability to be a leader, an active doer. I have learned to respect and listen to others as we have forged ahead with this tremendous new neighborhood that I am so proud of.
I’m deep into reading a biography by Linda Lear titled Rachel Carson, Witness for Nature. Carson’s most acclaimed book prior to Silent Spring was The Sea Around Us which I must admit I have never read. According to the biography, the night in 1952 when she accepted the Burroughs Medal for The Sea Around Us she said,
