Indian Summer - Maybe

Foggy morning.

I don’t think that what we’re having now can rightly be called an Indian Summer. Indian Summers, by strict definition, come in the fall after a killing frost when the weather turns unseasonably warm and dry. This spell of lovely warm weather we’re having began before summer officially departed. And we’ve had frost, but not the killing variety – yet. And the foggy, dew-drenched mornings we’ve been having disqualify us on the dry part too. But whatever you call it, the weather has been beautiful. With warm sunny days around 80°, low ground fog and heavy dew in the mornings, and soft breezes, I call this weather perfect.

The beaver pond this morning.

The season officially changed on Friday with the arrival of the Autumnal Equinox. In keeping with my personal tradition, I started growing my cold weather beard that day even though the cold weather hasn’t come yet. I know it will eventually and I’ll be ready for it.

This mild weather has blessed my garden. The grapes are ripening rapidly now. The raspberries and blackberries are still going strong. The late summer flowers – marigolds, dahlias, nasturtiums, and zinnias – are still blooming, although they are looking a bit tired. The flowers that prefer shorter days and cooler temperatures  – calendulas, nigella, and snapdragons – have revived. And just when things are slowing down in the flowerbeds, the colchicums have burst into bloom. “Burst” is the best word for it. In the spring and early summer, the colchicums grow leaves from their big, bulky bulbs. The leaves don’t look like anything special. No one pays attention to them tucked in among the other flowers. The leaves wither away in midsummer and there’s no trace of the colchicums until fall. In the first days of fall, triggered by the shortening days, the flowers explode from the ground – big single and double pink flowers. They are a fitting conclusion to the flowering year. I love them.

Late summer dahlia.

Nasturtiums still going strong.

Calendula.

Nigella.

Colchicums.

More colchicums.

Single flowering colchicums.

I harvested the last of my onions last week, huge yellow Spanish onions. They are curing on the back porch now. This was a good year for onions. I also picked all of my apples and pears. Most of my apple trees alternate years, one year a heavy crop, the next year a light crop. This was a light year for them. I only got a few bushels. I was hoping to get enough to press some cider and make a few gallons of vinegar, but there aren’t enough to do anything more than can some applesauce. I picked my pumpkins and winter squash too – seven lovely Winter Luxury pumpkins that we will process and freeze, and five little Baby Blue Hubbard squash that we’ll eat at Thanksgiving.

Apples and pears.

Pumpkins and Hubbard Squash.

I did some canning last week. I finally had enough ripe tomatoes to can a batch of salsa. The sauerkraut that has been fermenting in its crock on the kitchen counter was done and I froze seven pints of that. The broccoli is in that happy time when the big heads are done but dozens of smaller shoots keeping appearing. I pick them, blanch them, and freeze them to eat later in the winter.

Down at the barn, I believe I’ve won the Bedtime Battle with the chickens at last. After several days of chasing them all into the coop and locking them in just before sundown, they got the message and now they go in on their own. No more roosting in the trees. See, I am smarter than a chicken.

There were family comings and goings last week. Miriam flew west on Thursday with Kurt and Julie to attend Kale’s wedding reception in Utah. She’ll be back tomorrow. On Friday evening the Thayns arrived for a weekend visit and in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday the Fosters arrived. The Thayns are going home tomorrow morning. The Fosters are staying until Tuesday morning. I love having my children home.

On Friday when the Thayns got here we did something I loved to do as a child and that my children loved to do and now my grandchildren – we raked up leaves and jumped in the pile. There is something wonderful about fallen leaves – the crispness of them, the smell of them. Hazel and June had a blast playing in them. After they were done, we performed our ritual annual burning of the leaves. I don’t burn all the leaves that fall in my yard, but I do burn one batch. The crackle of the burning leaves and the smell of the smoke is one of the most intensely nostalgic things I know of.

Playing in the leaf pile.

Burning leaves.

On Saturday we spent the day just enjoying being together. We opened some belated birthday presents – Tosh’s birthday was the 17th and Hazel’s was the 20th. This was Hazel’s second celebration. We played a very fun lawn game that the Fosters brought called Kubb. We picked raspberries and carrots. We went swimming. We ate good food. I love days like that.

Tosh opening belated birthday presents.

Hazel's birthday - part two.

Playing Kubb.

The cheering section,

Picking raspberries.

Picking carrots.

Swimming.

Here is a report from Daniel in Italy: “I’m helping take care of piglets. There are 14 from one mother and another mother just gave birth to 12 more and 4 died. We planted cabbages this morning. Emma and I are house sitting for Sophie's (the woman of the house here) mother for a week while she is in Holland. The house is just up the road from the farm. We wake up every morning at 6:30 and do the chores. Then we have breakfast. Then we work on whatever project we have for the day. Then we have a break at about 10:00. Then we prepare lunch, or go back to work till lunch. After lunch we play some Dutch Blitz for a while then nap because it's usually too hot to work. At 5:00 we start back to work and work until 7:00. Then we have dinner at 8:00. After dinner we play more Dutch Blitz. Then we go to bed. It's a really nice simple life and the weather is amazing. The work I do is hoeing, spreading straw in the gardens, weed whacking, seed harvesting, fruit harvesting, and planting. We are going to harvest olives next week. I thought I’d have to learn to do most jobs, but I actually know most of the techniques and actually we farm pretty much exactly like dad farms, so I look like a pro. It's really great though because you can farm all year round here. The dog on the farm is a local dog from a Shepherd and he’s really smart. A few days ago I was going to shut the chickens in at night and I forgot the bucket of scraps, so the dog just sat there and barked by the door to the house and wouldn't come with me until I got the bucket. Then we started to go until he stopped and started barking at me again because I forgot the flashlight. But once I had both things he came right along, happy as can be. I’m having a great time here.”

The restaurant and farmhouse where Daniel works.

The piglets.

Planting cabbages.

The farm dog.

We’re home from church now. The drive to and from Wellsville was beautiful. We took the scenic route home over Whitney Hill again. This is the best time of year for taking the scenic route to anywhere. Actually every route is the scenic route right now. It is warm again today, almost hot when you stand in the sun. Now lunch is almost ready and it smells delicious. The house is full of my children and grandchildren. We have the rest of the day to spend together. I love it.