I drew this with a potato.

I’ll explain…

Our power was out for 2.5 days. I know some folks who went longer, and some who are still going.

I have notes of what went well here (chest freezer kept full and shut whose “indicator tomatoes” barely blinked at the outage), and plans for the future (battery bank for water treatment).

The woodstove generated delicious hot meals, and the pantry and cooler covered the rest. Pancakes with maple syrup; fried kolbassa; potato rostis with onion and fried eggs, crackers and cheese with red pepper jelly; applesauce skillet muffins; tuna casserole with oregano and spinach… Nom nom nom!

As for how I came to sketch a tree by potato, I thought the morning fire’s embers were too cold to cook potatoes, and I was… mistaken. By the time I took them out, they’d been charred to oblivion. It was tin foil wrapped around burnt air. But seeing the marks on my fingers, I got an idea…

So that explains the spud. But for the outage, why not get a generator? If I had physical limitations, was elderly, or lived in other circumstances, I might. But since diesel doesn’t grow on trees (and trees do), we’re unlikely to swap, so long as the woodstove and hand pump works for us instead.

It’s also not unpleasant to get a reset, slow down, and take stock of what we really need. We experiment and explore. I had my first rainwater bucket shower. And what sounds like a hardship was the highlight of my day. I washed my hair with crisp water and in the company of chickadees. I gave myself an ice cream headache from the outside. I swaddled in a robe, and warmed up by the fire. People pay good money to do water circuits to help them relax. I achieved the same thing by repurposing a downspout.

When the power comes back on, we enjoy it more. We revel in a quickly boiled kettle, and savour seeing in the dark. It’s a bump in gratitude, and a welcome one. We are a bit better about staying off our phones. We keep to the habit of playing cards in the evening, and our sleep cycles better align with the sun. We go back to making dinner before it gets dark, and head to bed because the stars are out.

Besides, how could I have drawn this tree without a potato??