Photo: Chris M & Kai move rounds of wood to our woodchopping pile while Chris K throws food scraps to the chickens.
It’s fall again. I was dreading the change in seasons this year because, as refreshing as that first cool morning of autumn feels, I felt hesitant about letting go of the long hot days of summer, the tutor-free evenings, and the full swing of what had become our beloved harvest-to-market business. Impending fall meant drops in temperature, shorter days, the return to the part-time, off-the-farm job and, worst of all, the undeniable arrival of rains that would turn into a wet winter and a wet spring.
Despite my mental attempts to slow down time, fall rolled in last week and it does feel Oh. So. Refreshing. I love fall. It’s only fault is that it’s followed by winter. And if winter only lasted a month or two, then I’d really have nothing to complain about. But certainly, transitions between seasons are always magical and the summer to fall transition may be the most magical of all. The farm is turning yellow and orange and red, the ducks and chickens and cats are getting fluffier with warmer coats and feathers, and the squirrels (oh, the squirrels!) are everywhere, gathering up nuts and seeds and running off with them to hidden nests in the MOST charming way ever.
Fall is affecting our farm work too. We’re clearing out beds of dying and done summer crops, getting the last of our fall seeds in the ground, raking leaves, clearing brambles, day-dreaming about winter on-site building projects, preserving food, and trying to make our summer garden produce stretch into more markets while impatiently urging our pumpkins to turn orange and our acorn squash to turn deep, forest green.
The cool autumn evenings seem to be injecting each of us with an extra dose of energy and we’re finding ourselves enjoying the property together in a way that the long days of labour outside in the sun didn’t afford us. Even the moon is drawing us outside in the evenings in a new way (last night I happened upon Chris M and Kai cuddled up in a blanked watching the moon get enveloped by an ever-darkening sky, while Chris K manned the twinkling embers of our first bramble burn of the year, in preparation for a bonfire party this weekend).
Fall, we’re happy you’re here and we’re looking forward to watching you work your magic.
The barn glows with the afternoon autumn sun…
Chris brings the chickens their daily dose of fresh veggie and fruit scraps…
Father & son share a tractor ride…
Chris gathers wood for winter fires…
Our tomatoes FINALLY start to ripen…
Our pumpkins take their sweet time…
Our garden beds start to get turned over and prepped for winter cover crops…
Yellow flowers & fallen walnut tree leaves…
The magnolia flowers go to seed…
Our fruit trees start feeding us…
And my shadow marks the entrance to our back, wooded area.
