Welcome to our burrow!
This website, Hibernacula, is where we share our thoughts on daily living and what makes a house a home. As for many of us, the 2020 pandemic hit our household hard, stalling our brand new pet treat business, Affables’ Snacks, and forcing us to make hard decisions about where we lived, how we lived, and what constituted ‘home’ to us.
So, we made a decision. In the spring of 2020, we sold our suburban home and downsized to a small old trailer located in a quiet acreage community on a dying lake. We moved to be closer to family, to improve our ability to grow more of our own food and to reduce our living expenses thus freeing up time to walk, think, write, and photograph.
Hibernaculum (Latin for “tent for winter quarters”) is a burrow or refuge for creatures who overwinter by hibernating (hibernacula is the plural form). For our purposes, we will stretch the metaphorical aspect of this scientific term to include dens, nests, lodges and other shelters created or found by creatures who winter sleep – and by extension, those who build homes to survive the winter such as humans. We chose the metaphor of hibernacula for our new website for several reasons, all inspired by the nature surrounding us. First, this little oasis in the parkland where we live is busy in summer with critters (like bats, beavers, salamanders, skunks, rodents and many insects) that know how to create (or find) a safe refuge during challenging seasons. Second, in winter, we see animals who stay awake and alert all season long, braving the cold winds and rejoicing in a perfect blue winter sky. They find shelter when needed and forage when safe to come out. Third, another strategy we see around us is to flee when harsher weather arrives, such as with migrating birds. Observing these varying strategies, and thinking about people, we wondered, when was it best to stay in one place, and when was it a good idea to pack up and move on?
We humans have a lot to learn about the difference between ‘house’ and ‘home’. Respectful watchfulness of the natural world around us can inspire daily; we gain new insights to make our own nest strong during these uncertain and difficult times. Problems are complex but values are not. There is so much to discover out here, seeing the creatures and all the ways they find a pathway home.