Solstice Greetings, Wintermoon Friends,

I hope this long over-due (and very long) email finds you as well as can be in these challenging times. That that these days of Solstice —the pause before light begins to return—offer some softness and gentling for each of you.

For many of us, this year has been rife with loss, destruction, heartbreak, and grief. The current political landscape alone has our nervous systems reeling. For those navigating the personal impacts of the fires – the loss of space, of structures, of stability – that return can be slow and uneven.

For those of us close in, dealing with the trauma and relentless impact of the fire, I will say it is exhausting. When I asked Cassidy (who, you’ll recall purchased Makela’s three days before the fire) what it has been like for her, the response feels spot on:

“The recovery is slow. It has been easier to throw myself into helping others because the mental and emotional strain of trying to figure out what has to be done and all that comes with that – the cost, the time, the learning- while simultaneously trying to process all the emotions of what happened…it feels easier and more manageable to help others than trying to pick up the pieces for myself.

When I think about everything that has to be done, responding to offers of “what can we do?” can feel paralyzing and overwhelming. In the times I have been able to focus on what is needed, for me, it feels hard to ask. Doubt creeps in. There is a constant tension of wanting to lean into community and the lifelong socialization of rugged individualism. It can feel lonely, like I’m letting others down, and that I am constantly making the wrong decision- all while just really wanting to crawl under the covers and cry.”

That definitely sums up the harder parts. Thankfully, we have you, the Wintermoon community, with so many of you checking in, donating time, treasure, or materials, and words of support. I know we are all still grieving Kathleen as well as the loss of ‘Wintermoon Prime,’ as Soph calls it. Sometimes it feels unreal even to me, it’s hard to imagine all that feels missing for all of you.

We’ve made tremendous progress since May: clearing debris, recovering tools, walking the land with heavy hearts and determined hands. Soph has successfully reunited the dogs with their land. So while their new home looks and feels different and the journey has been one none of us could have clearly mapped- one thing is clear – the light is beginning to return.

—Chris

So snuggle up, grab a blanket, and read Soph’s story…

New Moon News

Hello Friends! The last seven months have been an absolute whirlwind and I don’t even know where to begin to catch you all up on everything. I deeply regret that it has taken this long to get an update out. With everything moving so quickly and the problems to solve being seemingly endless, I dropped the ball on keeping everyone in the loop. I am so sorry for any feelings of disconnect I sowed as a result. There is so much to update about and I am sure I will forget something, but I will do my best to cover as much as possible and catch everyone up on what has happened in the months since the fire. I also want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has pitched in to help in the wake of this tragedy. Words cannot express the depth of my gratitude for everyone who has donated, offered time, coordinated for gear, and just been here for the Wintermoon community and most importantly the dogs. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

The Uses of Sorrow (by Mary Oliver)

(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)

Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.

Seven Months Since the Fire

In the months since May, so much has happened that it’s almost impossible to believe it’s only been seven months since the fire. In that time:

** I got the dogs evacuated to Grand Marais, with thanks to Erin and Matt Altemus for sharing their dog yard with us

**Said goodbye to my dog Freddy

**Worked with Tone from Endurance Kennels replanting trees and consulting in a hundred ways , he’s also the one who set up the Go Fund Me site that so many of you contributed to

**Worked with Full Sun Services out of Silver Bay to clear an area at Thornapple for a new dog yard

**Worked with Kevin Hellman to get the rest of the dog yard cleared and get a driveway put in

**Designed and prepared a new dog yard (which meant a lot of post pounding in rocky Brimson ground)

**Got the dogs moved back to Brimson

** Lived for a month in a nylon camping tent while trying to find a shelter for winter

**Said goodbye to Kesha

**Bought a little old tractor

**Got a slab poured and a small house brought in

**Managed to fix my woodstove as the first real snow started to fly

**Got a new shipping container (the original one is too toxic to use)

**Got 7 more dogs

Throughout all of that was also still the daily tasks that come with caring for all the sled dogs, trying to get trail work done, driving two hours each way back and forth between Brimson and Grand Marias on a regular basis to ensure work was happening in both places, and trying to replace everything I lost when the fire burned everything I owned. Needless to say, it’s been a rough time. Despite the struggles though, slowly but surely things are starting to come together.

It’s impossible to thank everyone for the help you’ve given. My parents, Steve and Trish, and my sister Heidi have helped in countless ways, from building things to dog care. Carla donated the money for the new doghouses, then came and helped construct them (thanks, Steve, for having all the supplies cut and ready), along with Jeannie and Jane and Mietek and Britton. Special shout out to Maggie (Naomi’s daughter) who baked dog treats and raised the money for all the new snaps! (She also saved her allowance for gas money to come visit Sigurd and meet the new pups: )

We built a wood shed and Naomi and Maggie helped stack 4 cords of firewood. Trail work continues, of course, with thanks to Laura and her daughter Anna, Rebecca, Beth, Mietek, Chris, Danae, and others.

Keith donated a generator and is getting ready to help me get solar and/or propane power in my little home. Jane and Turk and Anna and Julie and Diane and so many others of you have been so generous. Lloyd donated a pallet of dog food right after the fire. Dawn, Cassidy, Carla, and Craig have done so much. The list goes on and on. David keeps in touch despite his health struggles. And Chris, of course, has been the steady presence through all of it. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t begin to describe it.

New Additions to the Wintermoon Family!

As many of you know, the original Wintermoon dogs are on the older side with the youngest being Mukwah at almost 7 years old. Because of this, most of them are semi retired or entirely retired so in order to keep dog sledding I needed to get some younger dogs in the mix. Only 4 of the remaining 18 wintermoon dogs still pull regularly.

Six days before the fire I adopted a dog who had been found in late February on a lake in Finland, MN. He circulated on all the Mushing Facebook groups and local community groups looking for his owners, but no one claimed him. It was clear he was an Alaskan Husky and when I started seeing community members saying they’d take him to have a “couch buddy” I got worried for him. Alaskan Huskies are bred to work. Without the chance to fulfill their natural pulling instinct to work, they cannot feel fulfilled. Knowing this, I reached out to the people who found him and offered to take him. This was in late march and the people who found him said they were going to keep looking for his owners for a while longer. By may, it was decided I would take him. He came to wintermoon. I named him Onni, a Finnish name for luck, and I was so excited to have him join the pack! Then the fire came and we evacuated and luckily he was an absolute champ about it. He is an absolute ham of a dog who loves hugs and attention, but when it’s time to work he puts his head down and pulls as hard as he can every time. I do have to watch him when we stop because he gets impatient and likes to bite and pull on the main line or his neckline, but it’s just because he wants so badly to keep working.

Just a week after we returned to Brimson as a pack, a kennel in Michigan was forced to shut down because the musher was in a motorcycle accident and was unable to care for his dogs. He was rehoming all 35 of his dogs and I reached out looking for a couple to add to the Wintermoon pack. I explained what we do and asked if he had any that he thought might be a good fit. He matched me with Gyda and Ivy. They are both around 4 years old and both lead prospects. Gyda is an absolute love bug with a very similar personality to Osa. Ivy is much more shy and nervous, not dissimilar to Wing, but she’s a powerhouse of a sleddog. They are in the ranks with little Alice as some of the smallest sled dogs in the kennel, but what they lack in size they make up for in drive. They are both amazing dogs and we are very happy to have them on the team. Gyda is in training as a lead as well. Ivy might in the future but she and I need to build a stronger foundation trust before either of us will be comfortable with her in lead.

I knew I needed a few more dogs to round out the numbers for this winter, and as I was considering which kennels I wanted to reach out to looking for dogs, I came across a post for a team that needed a new home as their musher was being forced to move for her job and couldn’t bring her team with her. At first I wasn’t sure if they would be the right fit, especially Hans who is already 8 years old, but I reached out anyway just to ask about the team. They range in age from 4 to 8 years old and all have very different personalities. Hans is a lot like Foxy was when he was younger, a little bit of a wild child but full of drive and love. Gordon is a lot like if you were to mix Finn and Mukwah together. He is a little on the chaotic side, but loves to pull and has the confidence to run in lead. We are still working on commands with him, but I have hope that he will be able to learn them over time. Moriah is on the shy side. For anyone who came to wintermoon in the couple of years with Kathleen, if you met the dog we rented named Michele then you can imagine what Moriah is like. Shy but driven and confident once she is pulling. Summer is probably the friendliest of the female dogs in this bunch. She loves a good cuddle and is confident with both children and adults which is wonderful. She came to me on the heavy side so I couldn’t run her right away, but she has since slimmed down and is working to catch up in her fitness so she can keep up with the younger teams. Kara is also very sweet but can be a bit shy at first. She also is working to catch up as she came to me severely overweight for a sled dog. We are still working to get her down to size so safely run her. That said, she still pulls hard when she is allowed to run, she just needs to lose a few more pounds before I can bump her speed up.

Rebuilding

It has been a long road to get everything going again at Thornapple. After the fire it became very clear immediately that the part of the property that housed Wintermoon previously was no longer going to be safe for the dogs. Even after extensive cleanup efforts were made with the help of the Brimson community there was just too much dangerous debris left behind to be comfortable bringing the dogs back to that portion of the property. As a result, the decision was made to rebuild on the Thornapple side of the larger Wintermoon property.

We are not exactly where the old homestead was but we are close to the old gardens. It has been an adjustment to move to an entirely new section of the property. We are much closer to the road now which makes it a little harder to loose-walk the dogs, but there have been some positives too. The new dog yard is built on a bit of a hill which helped significantly with drainage during the rains this fall. I am hopeful it will also help with spring run off and prevent me from having to dig trenches in the dog yard for drainage. We also have had to build new trails to access the old trails. It is appearing to be another low snow winter which has made running the dogs difficult with the sleds so far, but we have been running on Brimson-Toimi road with the ATV and have even gone to visit Mietek a couple times at his property a mile and a half away.

Rebuilding has taken quite a bit of work, from clearing a massive stand of burnt forest to make space for a dog yard to getting a driveway and house brought in, but there is still much to be done. As of now, I do not have a well which means I have to dedicate a day once a week to drive to Duluth to fill 25 buckets with water for the dogs as well as a few containers for myself and my cats. All those buckets then have to be hauled into my house to keep them from freezing so I have water for the dogs for the week. I also have yet to install propane so most of my cooking happens on my woodstove for now. I also don’t yet have any form of power so I am using power banks and my generator to keep my phone charged and primarily using candles as my light source. It is difficult living but it is worth it to keep the dogs happy.

In Memoriam

As you are likely well aware, my dog Freddy overheated during the evacuation from the fire. We tried desperately to save him, but the damage was too much for his body to handle and the decision was made to have him humanely euthanized to prevent any further suffering when it was clear he was not going to be able to survive. At only 2.5 years old, losing him was so out of left field some days it still doesn’t feel real. For anyone who had the pleasure of getting to interact with and/or run Freddy, you know how special he was. He was an unbelievably strong and driven dog. He was originally bred as a sprint dog but due to a joint issue and being born mostly blind, he struggled to keep up with his sprint team. That is how he ended up with me, and he was doing a remarkable job running with the wintermoon dogs. To lose him so unexpectedly when he had his whole life ahead of him is something I will likely never fully recover from. I am grateful for all the time I got with him, and heartbroken that I will never get any more.

We also had to say goodbye to Kesha in September. She had been struggling with failing kidneys since last fall and a week after we got back to Brimson it became clear that she was in the end stages of her life. She had been holding out the entire time we were in Grand Marais and part of me believes she just wanted to see her pack make it home before she was ready to let go. She was nearly 15 years old and one of the most stubborn dogs I have ever met, so it was hard to tell when she was ready to go. When she stopped eating I knew it was likely time, then she led the chorus after dinner for the first time in months and it was very clear she was saying goodbye. The following morning after her final song I brought her in and the vets agreed it was total kidney failure and time to let go. She passed peacefully in my lap and as difficult as it was to say goodbye it was also a relief to know she was no longer in pain. Her presence is still missed and no dog has quite taken up the mantle she left yet, though Sitka seems to be attempting to follow in her mother’s footsteps as she is vying for her title as Queen of the Yard now that she is living life as a house dog.

Looking Ahead

It should come as no surprise that things are going to look different now than they have in the past when it comes to trips and work weekends. This winter it is very unlikely I will be able to host any overnight trips, but if you are interested in going dog sledding, day rides will be an option. The bunkher is available for anyone who wants to stay overnight, but I cannot provide food or any way to cook, and the driveway to the bunkher will not be plowed so if we get enough snow you may need to park at the end of the drive and walk in. I also do not currently have any plans for any winter work weekends, but if you are interested in coming up to do work you are welcome to reach out and we can try to make a plan. I don’t have any of the tools or gear that I used to so you will need to provide your own. The majority of the work right now is trail work, though as always there will be dog yard work as well.

If you are interested in dog sledding or volunteering please reach out via email at soph.mintz@gmail.com not via text or call as my service is very limited and I do not have power so I don’t have wifi. I check my email once a week when I go into town for water so expect some delay in communications. I am sorry about this and working on a solution. If I have missed a text or call from you, I apologize. Between the chaos of this ordeal and my limited service, communications have been a bit of a nightmare.

Other Ways to Help

The destruction of the fire means that nearly everything useful we used to have is gone. While some things have already been replaced, most have not. It is difficult to make a comprehensive list of all the things we need because nearly every day I come up with another thing that is necessary to keep things up and running. That said, the main things we need right now are trail tools and dog supplies. Trail tools include: nippers/loppers, saws, string trimmers, black sleds (for hauling tools), and snowshoes. Other tools are also welcome but those are the big ones. Dog supplies include: harnesses, ganglines, snaps, collars, chain, booties, and crates. Harnesses are probably the most important thing on the list as more than half the harnesses were hanging in the house when it burned. We have enough to run ten dogs at a time, but not necessarily with all of them fitting well. At some point I will figure out what all I need for the house and for other general homestead things and will provide a list of those as well, but for now trail tools and dog supplies are the top priority.

Thank you again to everyone who has provided gear, funding, time, and resources to the dogs and I in the aftermath of this fire. The generosity of this community has been nothing short of miraculous and I am so eternally grateful to each and every one of you for helping keep this dream alive. We could not do this without you.

Final Thoughts

This has been a very difficult and uncertain time and likely will continue to be for the foreseeable future, but I have no doubt that brighter days will come. I know everyone is both excited and curious about what the future holds for Wintermoon. Frankly, so am I. Don’t worry, the dogs and I have made some time between crises to dream of the future and as things start to settle down I am sure I will have more good news and big plans to share. For now, we are mostly focused on making it through each day, keeping the dogs happy and healthy, and updating amenities to make the new homestead more livable.

Now that we are all caught up, I am hopeful that updates can come more frequently and will include more good news in the future. Thank you all for your patience in waiting for this update and my apologies again for just how long it took.

Hike Hike!

–Soph

* Akiak * Alice * Amaroq * Butthole * Denahi * Finn * Gordon * Gyda * Hans * Ivy *
* Kara * Lena * Monk * Mooz * Moriah * Mukwah * Nikolai * Nine * Nome * Onni * Osa * Ruger * Soph * Sigurd * Sitka * Summer * Susi * Sven * Toklat * Tulugak * Willow * Wing *