Why I Love Living on PEI… Except in the Winter 😂
I really do love living on Prince Edward Island.
Most of the time.
Ask me in July and I’ll tell you there’s nowhere else I’d rather live. Ask me sometime in February while I’m staring at a driveway full of snow and wondering if the wind is actually trying to remove the siding from my house… and my answer might be slightly different.
PEI really is a beautiful place to call home.
Summer on PEI Is Hard to Beat
There’s something about summer here.
The red dirt roads, beaches, fields, little communities, roadside stands and those evenings where you can actually sit outside without freezing. Everything seems to slow down just a little bit.
And then there’s the garden.
By late summer, my garden has usually gone from “Oh look, everything is growing!” to “What on earth am I going to do with all of this?”
Tomatoes need picking. Beans need picking. Cucumbers are hiding under leaves becoming the size of baseball bats. Herbs need drying. Something needs bottled, chopped, frozen or preserved.
And somehow I love every minute of it.
Well… maybe not every minute. Ask me again when I’m on my fourth batch of pasta sauce at 10:30 at night. 😂
A lot of what I grow also ends up inspiring things I make for Christa’s Creations. Calendula gets dried and infused. Herbs get tucked away for future projects. Flowers get dried. And sometimes I grow something simply because I think, “I wonder what I could make with that?”
That usually leads me down another rabbit hole.
Fall Might Actually Be My Favourite
Then PEI gives us fall.
The air gets cooler, the leaves start changing and suddenly I want everything to smell like cinnamon, cloves, apples, vanilla and pumpkin.
This is also when I apparently forget how much work I already have and decide it would be a wonderful idea to make more things.
Fall soaps? Absolutely.
Simmer pots? Obviously.
Pumpkin-scented everything? Why wouldn't I?
There’s just something about fall on the Island that makes you want to put on a sweater, make something warm, and pretend winter isn’t standing just around the corner waiting for us.
Because it is.
It definitely is.
And Then… PEI Winter Arrives
This is where my love letter to PEI gets a little complicated.
PEI winter is beautiful.
From inside.
With a coffee.
While somebody else is shovelling.
There are those gorgeous mornings when everything is covered in fresh snow and the trees look like something from a Christmas card.
And for approximately 11 minutes, I think:
“Oh, this is so beautiful. I’m so lucky to live here.”
Then I remember I have to go outside.
PEI winter has a special way of making you question your life choices.
You shovel the driveway.
The wind blows.
You shovel it again.
The plow goes by.
Congratulations—you now have a small mountain at the end of your driveway.
And Island wind deserves its own paragraph.
If you’ve never experienced a PEI winter wind, I’m not sure how to explain it.
It doesn't blow around you.
It blows through you.
There are winter mornings here when you walk outside and immediately understand why people own six different coats.
But Then Spring Comes Back
Eventually the snow disappears, the ground starts thawing and those first little green shoots come up.
And every single year, I forget how much I complained.
Out come the seed trays.
I start planning the garden.
I convince myself I'm going to keep it simple this year.
I will not plant too much.
I will not start 47 different projects.
I will definitely keep up with the weeds.
And by July, all of those promises have been broken. 😂
But that's part of what I love about living here.
The seasons change everything.
Summer is busy and beautiful. Fall is cozy. Winter tests your patience and your snow shovel. And spring somehow makes everything feel brand new again.
PEI isn't perfect.
But it's home.
I love the beaches, the red dirt, my garden, the small communities, the changing seasons and being able to create things using ingredients I've grown right outside my own door.
Would I trade it?
Probably not.
Would I occasionally like to relocate somewhere tropical from January through March?
Absolutely.
But come summer, you'll find me right back here—probably standing in my garden with dirt on my clothes, a basket full of vegetables and another idea for something I absolutely do not have time to make.
And honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.
— Christa
Christa’s Creations
Made in West Point, PEI
