Winter mornings in the valley begin with mist. It pools on the lake and in the low ground below the dam, and the forest along the western ridge stands above it like an island. By nine the sun has burned it off and the valley is bright and cold.
Warm walls
The same thick earth walls that keep the house cool in June hold the day's warmth in December. A wood stove in the evening, fed from the valley's own coppice, does the rest. Solar days are shorter, so winter is when the battery sizing matters; the valley's shared arrays back up every home for the darkest fortnight of the year.
The clearest skies
There are no streetlights in Zen Valley, and no generator hum. On a clear December night the Milky Way is visible from every veranda. The learning centre runs a stargazing evening each winter, mostly for the children, who are usually the ones who stay longest.
A fire, a blanket, and a sky you have forgotten exists.
Quiet work
The wheat grows slowly. The orchard sleeps. The hens lay less. It is the season for planning next year's beds, and for doing very little else.
