January on the Farm: Hidden Growth in the Heart of Winter

January on the farm is a much slower pace than the rest of the year. The ground is covered in snow, the greenhouse lies dormant, and we're still dreaming into the specifics of the summer programs. In the next few weeks, we'll order seeds for the coming growing season, and one more month and those greens in the greenhouse might come back to life.

For now, those of us with dogs walk or ski them around the field. We fill our wood stoves with wood to warm our homes and hearts. This month, we also begin to harvest the firewood for next year's winter hearth. As they say, the wood warms you multiple times: when you cut it, when you stack it, when you move it, and when you use it to heat.

But beneath the frozen surface, something remarkable is happening. In the Jewish tradition, this mid-winter month of Shvat is when sap begins to rise in the trees—not yet visible, but stirring deep in the roots. Even while the world appears still, nature is already preparing for renewal. Shvat reminds us that not all growth is visible. Sometimes it begins in the unseen places: the roots, the heart, the spirit.