The quiet work farms do in the off-season — and the lessons it offers for our own healing rhythms
Winter changes everything on a homestead.
The garden beds that overflowed with tomatoes and beans only a few months ago now rest under frost. The orchard stands bare. The soil is covered and protected. Chickens lay fewer eggs. Even footsteps slow. There is less doing and more watching. Less urgency and more patience. From the outside, it looks like nothing is happening at all.
But beneath the surface, everything is happening.
Microbes continue their invisible work. Roots store energy. Soil rebuilds its structure. Seeds wait. The farm enters a season of quiet labor that cannot be rushed and cannot be skipped. Without this pause, there is no spring. No harvest. No renewal. The land never apologizes for slowing down. It simply follows the rhythm that keeps it alive.
If you’ve been following our Farmland Friday series, you’ve seen how deeply soil health shapes human health. We explored that connection in When the Land Is Tired, So Are We, where depleted soil mirrors depleted bodies.
And in Roots, Resilience, and the Year Ahead, we talked about how nature’s cycles teach endurance and renewal.
What the land understands that we forget
Modern life tells us to stay in constant summer mode.
Produce more. Fix faster. Heal quickly. Push through. Stay busy. Stay strong. Don’t fall behind.
But the body has seasons. The nervous system has seasons. Hormones have seasons. Emotions have seasons. Healing itself has seasons. There are times when growth is natural and outward. And there are times when repair is internal, slow, quiet, and invisible to anyone watching.
Real healing often looks like resting more. Canceling plans. Saying no without explanation. Letting old patterns fall apart. Letting the body catch up. Letting the mind exhale. Letting the heart soften. Just like soil rebuilding itself in winter, much of the most important work happens where no one else can see it.
The farm never calls this laziness. It calls it necessary.
What happens when we refuse our winter
A field that never rests becomes depleted. Crops weaken. Disease spreads. Soil loses its resilience. Eventually, the land can no longer sustain life without heavy intervention.
Humans are no different.
When we ignore exhaustion, grief, burnout, chronic stress, illness, or nervous system overload, we don’t become stronger. We become brittle. Inflamed. Reactive. Dependent on stimulants, distractions, or medications just to keep functioning. The body starts waving red flags louder and louder until it finally forces the pause we refused to choose.
This isn’t a character flaw. It’s physiology. It’s biology. It’s the same rule the land has followed for as long as life has existed.
An invitation to notice your season
So take a moment and notice where you are.
Maybe you’re in a season of growth and momentum. If so, enjoy it. Move with it.
Maybe you’re harvesting the results of work you’ve already done. Let yourself feel that satisfaction.
Or maybe you’re in winter.
Quiet. Tender. Low energy. Less social. Less productive. More inward. More reflective. More in need of softness than solutions.
If that’s where you are, let yourself be there. Cover your soil. Protect your roots. Sleep more. Simplify your days. Breathe slowly. Allow the unseen work to happen without demanding proof that it’s working.
Spring always follows winter. But only when winter is honored.
Your healing has its own rhythm. Just like the land. And it doesn’t need to be rushed.
With love and truth,
—Donna 💚
Sources & Further Reading
Soil Biology and Winter Soil Processes
Soil organisms and microbial activity in healthy soil ecosystems
https://extension.umn.edu/soil-management-and-health/soil-biology
Winter soil processes and how soil continues functioning in cold seasons
https://uwaterloo.ca/winter-soil-processes/
Microbial and fungal activity under snow and winter soil conditions
https://holdenfg.org/blog/soils-under-snow-still-carry-on/
Chronic Stress and Biological Repair
Effects of chronic stress on the body and immune function
https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/community-stress-resource-center/php/resources/stress-effects-on-body.html
Scientific review of stress-driven immune and inflammatory responses
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39518533/
How prolonged stress hormones impact health over time
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037
