Nooooo that’s not a hip new store, though I can see how you maybe thought that. (Or maybe it is… I haven’t googled it.)
In this season, the words “going fallow” are in my head a lot.
In normal times, I’ve noticed I go through times filled with outgoing energy, and times of quiet retreat, which I consider my fallow time — a time of regeneration, rest, awaiting the return of energy required to emerge brightly.
Now in this pandemic season of living in the heart of an outbreak hotspot and covid lockdown, I am reminded of this. This is an extended fallow season.
I should make sure I’m using this word correctly.
Merriam-Webster defines fallow as, “Cultivated land that is allowed to lie idle … effective for destroying weeds … the tilling of land without sowing for a season”.
Wikipedia says, “The goal of following is to allow the land to recover and store organic mater while retaining moisture and disrupting the lifecycles of pathogens by temporarily removing their hosts.”
Apt.
When I think of this fallow season of staying home, I think about what’s always at the end. How this ends. With spring! Even if spring of 2021 finds us continuing to struggle with the pandemic, flowers will still bloom. Apples will still grow. Trees will still bud and burst.
Here are some photos taken from my now-defunct iPhone (heads up to anyone who attempts to contact me via cell… my fallow state is currently accidentally enhanced by a period of zero phone connectivity as we wait for my new one to arrive).
The feature photo is my favourite. Andrew and I had been taking a late evening walk this past June, and those white lilacs entranced me so, I had to stop for a photo. White flowers in late spring evenings are especially inviting. We will see and smell them again. Every day we draw closer.
