Essential to regeneration is death: the natural ending of a life cycle. While it’s a topic our society has difficulty confronting, winter offers us the wisdom of darkness, of slowness, of death – even if the cold is not as harsh in some areas as it is in others. This is the season that ushers in change by inviting dormancy and death before rebirth. This is the gift of winter.

December 21st marked the Winter Solstice – denoting the shortest day of the year, or rather the least light in a day. The departure of the light can be difficult to manage, and we recall how affected we are by the planets with the absence of the sun this time of year. But how can we find purpose and meaning in the darkness? What does slowing down, doing less, nourishing your body and listening to our own internal rhythms have to offer you?

Tricia Hershey of Nap Ministiry speaks of the important of deep rest – echoing the natural world in this season. In the coldness and the slowness, when much of the earth is resting, we can observe the season by going within. Winter offers us the chance to return to our purpose, remember who we are and what we are grateful for – the harvest of fall, summer, and spring– to recharge from the growing seasons.

Historically, in cold and dark times, indigenous peoples gather around the fire – speaking their stories, gratitude, and sharing wisdom. This is a time to sit by the fire or candlelight in reflection and remember what you seeded and sowed in the earlier seasons; what you’re letting die, decompose and compost in your life. Let fire guide you in ritual this winter: you can write down and burn what you’re letting go of, and speak into existence what you wish to bring to life in the next season. Throw herbs or gathered twigs and leaves of pine, juniper, cyprus into the fire for a treat to the senses. We depend on sacred fire to stay alive – give thanks for the warmth and brightness of this element in darker times.

Because we too are affected by the sun and moon’s rhythms, shorter days mean more sleep and hardier, nourishing foods. It’s time to pull out the canned tomatoes, jams, and pickles from spring and summer and let their sweetness and acidity brighten your plate. Citrus from the Southwest and West Coast offer us much-needed Vitamin C– and if you want to stay local, turn to the grounding seasonal vegetables: roots like carrots, parsnips, radishes and turnips; cabbage, rutabaga, and starchy squashes. Root vegetables and cabbage are easy to ferment, a perfect winter activity that also supports your gut in a season when our systems tend to slow down. Try experimenting with new (to you) or heirloom varieties of squash and potatoes, like honey nut, kabocha, or delicata. Seasonal winter vegetables roast easily, and blended with a bone or miso broth make the heartiest, most nourishing soups. To build deep immunity, let broth be a medicine for you: save your veggie scraps (and bones) to simmer with herbal adaptogens like reishi, shiitake, eleuthero, or astragalus and antivirals like rosemary, sage, and oregano (alongside trusty medicinal alliums like garlic, leek, and onion). Try a nourishing tea infusion of oat straw, red clover, and nettles to prevent stagnancy in your system, or introduce a mood-lifting tea ritual with Tulsi, which both repairs our nervous system and supports our mental health, or chamomile, a classic sleep aid. Check out these other winter medicines to support your health in the cold and flu season.

The slowness of winter is the perfect time to plan, study, and set intentions. In the sparseness of this season, be proactive to find out how you can support local farmers and markets by researching CSAs or pre-order pick-up options, donating to local food security initiatives, and mutual aid. Find a regenerative farm near you here.

Plan your garden; order seeds for the spring and begin your vegetable starts indoors so they’re ready to transplant when ground temperatures rise. You can also learn about greenhouse growing or how climate change is affecting growing patterns in your region. Spend some time researching the local food system and community agriculture so that come spring, you know how you want to connect to it – maybe that’s finding a compost drop-off or locating your nearest community fridge.

As the life cycle comes to an end this season, the symbol of the circle offers us a metaphor of interconnectedness – with season, with land, with plants, and with each other. Soon, the light will return, and the cycle will begin again – as celebrated by the many East Asian Lunar New Year festivities in late January.

In the spirit of interconnectedness, how might you learn about these lunisolar traditions in your area – or other cultures and communities that you aren’t familiar with? How do you want to honor your interconnectedness with the collective as the cycle regenerates? As food and housing insecurity continue to affect the most marginalized, our interdependence challenges us to find even the smallest ways to contribute to the collective – especially growers and tenders of land and food.

Winter can be a gentle preparation for how you want your regenerative values to grow in the next cycle to come. Take some time to ruminate this winter, and decide which seeds you wish to plant next.