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Frogtown
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Happy New Year! The winter solstice, harbinger of the beginning of astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere and sunlight curmudgeon, has passed. It’s a good thing we have such Grand Poobahs to remind us of our uncanny ability to admire and indulge in nature and the supranatural at once, if only imaginatively. We celebrate instances of these apparent natural fulcrums –“bedposts” in Latin –that anchor our sense of balance over the course of seasonality.
As a species our reverence for seasonal change, historically and transnationally, perhaps makes us true cultural globalists.
The winter solstice, at its core, captures a symbolic and spiritual trifecta. Its cultural significance lies in collective notions of human interconnectedness, light’s victory over darkness, and the cycle of death and rebirth.
Centuries before our present culture war battles over economic globalism became a “thing,” many societies seemed to share one historic aspect of culture: celebration and festivity around astronomical winter. The Zuni and Hopi (Hopitu Shinumu) conduct Soyal, their traditional celebration of the winter solstice. The Burusho (Hunza people) of northern Pakistan conduct their Thumushelling festival on the solstice to celebrate harvest’s end. The modern St. Lucia’s Day festival or festival of lights, celebrated at the time of the winter solstice in Scandinavia, is a Christian festival meant to honor St. Lucia, an early Christian martyr. The fest combines earlier elements of pagan Norse solstice celebration with Christian traditions.
Winter solstice, however, is more than celebration of death and rebirth; it invites us to consider how to responsibly manage this transition in nature. For me, this means taking on small tasks to help nature better complete its renewal functions.
One simple way to position ourselves as one of nature’s BFFs is to foster wildflower seeds over winter indoors via cold stratification. Stratification involves exposing seeds to moist, cold, or warm conditions (warm stratification) in order to break dormancy. Many native wildflowers, especially those that produce seeds in the fall, undergo stratification naturally when exposed to winter’s cold and moisture. Ideally, they’ll germinate in spring. However, proper indoor stratification mimics natural conditions that bring about necessary seed dormancy and germination. Also, doing so increases seed survival rates by protecting them from becoming a menu item for birds and rodents.
A common stratification method used for native seeds is to first soak culled seeds for 1-2 hours, drain the water with a paper towel or coffee filter, spread seeds on the towel, wrap another paper towel around the moist one, and finally refrigerate in a sealed Ziploc bag. It’s a good idea to label the plant species, if known, with the date. Leave refrigerated for about a month before planting.
The MnSEED Project (mnseedproject.org) provides great learning opportunities on native seed cleaning, processing, stratification and sharing.
Also, check out Frogtown Green’s Monarch City (www.frogtowngreen.com/our-village-community-garden), an urban prairie garden covering 10,000 square feet of pollinator-friendly plantings. Monarch City’s a wonderful place for native plants and seed discovery.
I find winter’s associations with human connectedness and the cycle of death and rebirth palpably compelling. I’m less sanguine about light’s triumph over darkness. I wonder if I’m looking in all the wrong places? Stars felled by light pollution. Transactional politicians. Deepfakes. Perhaps, I’ll try some seeds.
Rennie Gaither is a Frogtown Green volunteer. Frogtown Green is a resident-led and volunteer-powered environmental initiative in St Paul’s most diverse neighborhood. If you’d like to know more, browse frogtowngreen.com or call 651-757-5970.
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