There are so many things to enjoy about Autumn time. The trees put on their brilliantly colored mantles of red, orange, rich brown and golden hues. The abundance of fruits, vegetables, nuts and mushrooms is ripe for the picking. Gardens are tucked into bed for the winter. Flocks of Canada geese sing travelling songs overhead. Creatures and humans alike nest and settle into their homes and burrows for the Winter. Everywhere is the flurry of preparation. It is a wonderfully busy time.
I have been enjoying the sights and sounds of the season around the farm. With the diversity of trees growing on this 20 acres comes a diversity of fall colors. I think my favorite is the blueberry patch, because the bright red leaves remind me of huckleberry bushes up in the mountains.
Every morning, when I go out to do the chores, I am greeted by Ms. Frizzle and her chicks, clucking happily and scratching at the grains and pecking at the fruit and vegetable scraps I bring them from the farmers. They are quite the merry little family.
Then I let the rest of the flock out, and they enjoy scratching and clucking about as chickens do in the early morning. Paul Bunyan often greets me with a very robust crow, as if to affirm that he is living up to his burly lumberjack namesake.
The quail are still fat and happy. I bring them dandelion greens and a pear each morning, which is always a welcome treat. They have stopped laying eggs for the season, but they still serve a great purpose in making me happy each morning, which is worth as much as eggs any day.
And speaking of birds, this little one has been hanging around all by it’s lonesome for a couple of months now. It’s always there when I’m feeding birds, or working in the garden. It isn’t afraid of people at all, and lets me come right up close. I have been wondering if it’s some sort of domestic bird that escaped, or a wild one that was rehabilitated. Whatever the case, I enjoy the company, but hope it will find a warm place to hunker down for the Winter months.
The garden is all set with garlic planted, compost turned and re-layered, and fava bean cover crop planted. Everything is growing really well with the mild weather, and I was delighted to find garlic popping up through the straw and newspaper mulch this morning.
I moved all my perennial herbs into a raised herb bed I put in outside the greenhouse. I figured this would keep them more accessible as kitchen herbs, and free up garden space which I never seem to have any problem filling.
It took a trip to Territorial Seed Company down in Cottage Grove to find seeds this time of year, but I got my fall greens planted in the greenhouse, and they are coming up beautifully. I am looking forward to eating them when the growing season outdoors is done. I also put some wicker patio furniture out there, on which I plan to sit and serenade the greens with my banjo on gray, drizzly days.
As always, I am enjoying my gourds. I didn’t get as many little ones this year, but the Gremlin variety with their white, warty contorted forms grew quite well, and are a lot of fun.
The last stragglers of fruits are falling off the vine in the cold mornings, and the ones that are left are quite beautiful without leaves to hide them. They are also being enjoyed by the chickens and quail as a morning treat.
And lastly, I am really enjoying the bright orange paper lanterns of this tree hanging over the walkway to my house. It welcomes me home like a cheerful flame against the misty darkness, which is much appreciated with dark coming on so early now.
As the busy flurry of fall activity starts to wind down, I am taking moments to slow down and enjoy all the things that delight me and simply be glad that it is Autumn. For all too soon, the wheel of the year will turn, and we will have to wait for this season to come around again.
Dear Lara,
I appreciate your blog, your writing and fotos very much.
You live your truth although it is not always the simplest way.
But always and ever there is truth, beauty and good intention.
Many greetings from Germany
Heike
Thank you Heike. I am enjoying sharing it with others, and am always happy to hear from you that you are enjoying it. Happy Autumn!
Beautiful! 🙂