Happy Winter Solstice!

As we approach the darkest day of the year it is a great opportunity to reflect, rest, and restore ourselves and our urban landscapes for the return of increasing daylight. Here in the PNW we have very early dark winter nights and Summer nights that almost stretch into the next day. If you are a gardener this is a quiet dormant time. The time to dream and plan ahead for the next season of growth… Perhaps you already have a pile of seed catalogs strewn across your kitchen table. What will you plant next year? How will you make improvements to your existing space to be more pollinator & salmon friendly? This is a good time to review our successes and examine failures or as I like to call them “experiments that turned out differently than expected”. May you relish in the dark and kindle your light for the days ahead.

All of us at Sustainable Ballard would like to thank all of you-volunteers, members, neighbors, and community partners for a year of abundance. Together our community can continue to become more sustainable and healthy. Thank you for helping us create, grow, and support community! Wishing you a peaceful and reflective holiday season. Happy Solstice!

The Shortest Day, by Susan Cooper
And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us—listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome, Yule!