Late Summer

  We are now eight weeks in to the thirteen weeks of summer and I can see, smell and hear the difference in the season. Kathy and I had a chance to sit on the patio for a good part of the afternoon and relax, as we did I could feel the change in the season. The sun now rises almost forty-five minutes later and sets thirty-five minutes later than it did on June 21st. The birds no longer hop through the garden and the dominate male no longer sits along the roof top of my house guarding the nest against other lesser males. The swifts are flying higher now and the earlier setting sun catches their wings as they catch the high flying bugs for their evening meal.
   I look across our gardens and see plants beginning to yellow, spent with the heavy production of their fruit during the summer. We have harvested potatoes, onions, beans and squash in abundance and have put up many freezer bags of our produce. There are still beans growing from a second planting and kale will soon go in to the ground for a cold weather harvest but all around there are signs that the growing season is ending. The days are shorter and the shadows are longer, even the trees look different tonight. The maples that surround our yard are less green than they once were, the seedlings are turning brown and the leaves are a lighter green color a beginning of autumn color. The rabbits have had seventeen kits and there is a bit of urgency in their actions these kits must be fed and gain weight quickly as winter is coming soon. The does might have one more litter but they know that it's past high time for the raising kits the days are shorter and nights longer not cold yet but soon.
   This late summer, there is still time to plant a few more crops but that time is ending quickly. I can feel the changes in the season, not because of back to school ads or the fairs now in full swing, but the air smells and feels different. The days feel and taste different and if you are attuned to the nature of things you can feel it too. The plants are tired and the animals are ready for a change of seasons, they know there's a change coming and if I'm wise I'll listen too. There are five more weeks of summer and if I'm wise I'll make the most of them because there's a change in the air and if you still your heart and mind I'll bet you can feel, smell and taste it too.