Mid Fall

    This time of year has a distinctiveness that you won't find in any other month or season. I really felt it as I made my rounds around the gardens and past the rabbit hutches this morning and I find the more time I spend on our little farm the more I notice it. The winds are gusting and cool this morning and at eleven am  the sun has nearly reached the halfway point in it's daily course. I can see the shadows are longer now than they been since early spring at this time of day and there are other differences as well. The gardens which were once flush with greenery and produce are nearly empty now; only a few kale and habenaro plants remain but these will be gone by the weekend. Many of the once colorful leaves have fallen to the ground and they make that unique rustling sound as the wind gusts blow them from one yard to the next. The air smells and feels different as well. The humidity that persisted even into earlier this month is gone and the air is drier and cooler. The summer smells of hot dogs and hamburgers being cooked on the neighborhood grills has been replaced by the faint smell of decaying leaves and plants mixed in with an occasional whiff of freshly cut silage.

     We have lost four hours and forty minutes since the summer solstice on June 21st and this coming weekend we'll give back the hour we gained from daylight savings time. As the days have become shorter so have my garden inspections, it's been a good season but I'm ready for a change myself. The time change will coincide with the end of our gardens and the beginning of the fur trapping season. Many people will complain that it gets dark way too early but if you fur trap as I do then you appreciate the earlier sunrise. I won't be trapping this year due to my shoulder surgery but I'll be happy to put an end to weeding and start trying to finish up many of the other projects started when the weather was warmer. I need to finish buying the materials for the chicken run and get the whole thing put together. We'll have sunchokes to plant this weekend and a partition still needs to be buried in the front garden to keep the chokes contained to their desired area. All the does have had their litters and I'm debating if I want to chance some cold weather litters, so I'm working on a way to provide warm nest boxes for any kits born in the winter chill. There is still much to be done on the farm.

      The weathermen are predicting a major fall in temperatures at the end of the week and this will likely bring to an end the unseasonably warm days we've been enjoying. I'll be rushing to get all the projects done that I've listed off and fortunately Justin will be able to lend a helping hand. There are still plenty of things I want to do and many of these will be able to be done in the warmth and protection of the house. I want to start a batch or two of hard cider, learn to make cheese and even try my hand at making some raspberry wine. I may try to use some of the pelts from our next batch of rabbits to make fur lined mittens or some other fur lined garment. The seasons have certainly changed as have my chores on the farm and soon the full beaver moon will hang over the frozen ground of the gardens, but right now I'm enjoying the changes of mid fall.