On November 14th, the Grain&Sens community was gathered for a working meeting in the common room. We looked out of the window in admiration as big beautiful snow flakes began to fall from the sky. This is our second winter here at Lavenant and the only snow we have known here is BIG snow. We began to ask ourselves how much were we in for… is it a good idea to take the car and head off to work… should we go pick up the kids from school?

Quickly we realised we were in for a good one and by friday morning, 50cm of snow awaited us on our doorsteps! The electricty had gone out (a walk later that morning revealed broken branches and fallen cables in every direction) and the faucets gave their last drop of water shortley after.

But nobody seemed too bothered… the kids spent hours on sleds and the adults in books next to the chimney fire. We spent the first 4 days disconnected from the outside world and reconnected to the white landscape that sourrounded us, our partners and children and the joy of taking things slow.

Here is a report of the snowfall:

By day 5… the power outage started to feel a bit more cumbersome. From heat to faucets and lights we began to feel the lack of presence of the electricity. The energy from most of the solar panels is sold into the grid and we were greatly brought to question this as we found ourself producing energy without the possibility to consume it.. Many feelings and reflections emerged by the 6th day as the situation put in question our capacities to spend time together as a community, advance on projects and complete our professional work (many of us have some work from distance and rely on our heated shared office with internet connection).

Eventually, the rain came, the snow melted, electricity and water came back, and things found themselves back to usual. What did rest was our reflections and realizations concerning our limiting factors of autonomy and our lacking coordination with neighbors in “emergency” or extreme weather situations. So we are learning, coordinating and planning how to better be prepared.