As I write it feels like spring is here. Its amazing. Mid February in Wisconsin has brought us records temps in the 60's. So strange. So wonderful. Maybe a good omen for the launch of our new website here at Brown Dog Farm.

I finally got down to it with the help from one burly son who is not daunted by all things computer. I know it will change here and there but it feels good to have something to work with. It's a start, and like all new adventures, begins with one step followed by another.

I have to admit this was a dark and dreary winter, filled with anxiety and apprehension. Every morning I wanted to draw the quilt up over my head hoping I would wake up to a different world. I never did. The news was scary, facebook was scary, the future was scary and for the first time for me this new adventure was really scary. The holidays flew by and in their wake I gifted myself Meik Wiking's, Little Book of Hygge; The Danish Way To Live Well. The author is a researcher at the Happiness Research Institute, an independent think-tank focusing on well-being, happiness and quality of life based in Denmark. Denmark is ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world; it also has one of the darkest and longest winters in the world. They must have something going with this hygge thing. The word 'hygge' originates from a Norwegian word meaning 'well-being'. I just like saying hoo-gah.

I began to read from it every morning. I put on my cozy LL Bean fleecy slippers first thing in the morning chill, I lit our hygge candle every evening when I came in from evening chores. For something to be hyggelig, there are a few key components. One of these is light, a warm glowing light to ward off the darkness. Most often from a candle. It also comes from the lightness that comes with simple comforts of home; small casual gatherings of friends sharing a simple meal and playing Dominoes; making the time to hunker down with a cup of tea and a good book; truly noticing a rare sunny morning in subzero winter. Atmosphere, presence, pleasure, equality, gratitude, harmony, comfort, truth, togetherness, and shelter. The more I studied this hygge thing the better I felt.

Next came a series of serendipitous events that literally brought this hygge thing home for me. One day while sharing our ongoing re-hab adventures with my knitting/spinning group, I mentioned that we were at a loss of what to do about the weird living room situation. Our little farm house had this giant wood stove that now was too large for the smaller space we had created and a big angled brick wall that took up about a third of the usable space. We needed to remove it and come up with a smaller alternative. I bemoaned the fact that what I really wanted was one of those 'tiny enamel danish stoves', 'maybe cobalt blue' like the one I had pinned on Pinterest. My dear friend Eleanore, my wool spinning guru, piped up 'I have one like that right in my basement!' WHAT!! yep just like that. She showed it to me and there it was a cobalt blue Lange enamel woodstove, Danish!! They had used it in a previous house. It heated the master bedroom in the unheated upstairs of their old farmhouse. It served them well but now it sat unused just waiting for a new home, to warm someone on cold winter nights. A month later, Ed and a friend dragged it up the stairs and brought it home. The old Goliath stove went to another friends barn to warm their family. The dance of the woodstoves- chasing away the darkness and chill of uncertain times.

Ed has been removing the brick wall in two 5 gallon buckets each evening. The wall is down and the other day I returned home from work to sunlight pouring through a new door opening to what will be our wood porch. Soon flooring will go in and new wall repaired and painted. We will have our hyggekrog, ( hoogacrow, nook in a living room where you can sit and have hyggelig time). So... step by step we are moving along, winter is on the wane, spring is in the air, web site is lit up. Thank goodness for Hygge !

We'reLighting Up!