All I need is a consistent snowfall to be able to settle into my winter routine. Snow has come and gone a few times, but the ground is bare and brown. My winter holiday does not call for a snowy ground, but it certainly adds to the cosiness when it happens. My tradition is to withdraw from the bustle of the predominant holidays’ festivities and engage in what the natural world is doing at this time, which is keeping warm and snug. This year it feels like a natural continuation of the way I have chosen to live for the past couple of years: a hermit on the hill who goes into town every couple of weeks to get supplies.

Like everyone else, I have been plagued by the failure of the overly lean supply chain. “Just in time” inventory, like so many of the outlandish ideas of capitalism, it not working well. The shortages are just strange. I have been waiting for car parts since October, with my front brakes hanging on, but just barely. One new rotor came in last week and I am waiting for the final one to arrive. Tuesday, they said. That’s come and gone, with no sight of the part. Maybe next week?

I wasn’t prepared for the shortage of vinegar, or rather of the glass bottles that contain it. I would like to think the shortage is somehow caused by people abandoning plastic bottles for good, but given the resistance to doing anything good for the planet by a certain cult in this country, I doubt it. I suspect it was poor planning on someone’s part.

I needed vinegar to make a batch of hair rinse. With the hard water from my well, I cannot rinse all the shampoo from my hair without an acidifier in the rinse water. I didn’t want to sacrifice the only lemon from my grocery order. I had plans for it (that involve broccoli and Kalamata olives). I found a solution in my dye cupboard. Citric acid, mixed at 1 Tablespoon per pint of water, is a substitute for vinegar. Add .75oz. of dried lavender blossoms, soak overnight and then simmer for 6 hours in a bain marie, and that makes a concentrate for hair rinse.

One makes do. In truth, I may always make my hair rinse like this. It’s nice not to smell like a chip shop after washing my hair. The vinegar scent dissipates quickly, but how nice it is to enjoy the pure scent of lavender instead.

While I have planned the bulk of my winter project™ to be about sewing, I also plan to learn how to make lotions and creams for skincare. I have a good stock of beeswax and hopefully I have or I can get the herbs I will need.