We had our first frost on Monday morning. It wasn’t a hard freeze. Near the house and under the big trees there was no frost, but out in the orchard and open fields things were white and crisp. There was also low ground fog and a rosy sunrise that morning. It was a beautiful morning. I went out early that morning to drink it all in. The cold was exhilarating. It made me happy and sad at the same time. With the next few frosts the annuals will die and the tender perennials will go dormant. Then I can clear away the garden of 2015 and start preparing for next year’s garden.
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| The beaver pond on a foggy, frosty morning on Monday. |
In anticipation of the frost, we picked all the tomatoes we could, brought in the rest of the pumpkins, picked bouquets of tender flowers, and moved the last of the potted plants into the back porch. The tomato vines were sickly to begin with and the frost put them out of their misery. This week I will pull the vines up and commit them to the compost. We canned all of the tomatoes we picked. The last batch of sauce, just six quarts, was finished last night. We’re done with tomatoes now.
I love the endless cycle of the garden, how this year’s garden goes into the compost to be transformed in food for next year’s garden. All the mistakes I made this year have taught me what I need to do better next year. You never stop learning when it comes to gardens. I like that. In the decay of this year’s garden lies the dormant potential for next year’s beauty and food. It’s a constant cycle of renewal of life and being part of it renews my spirit.
We finally moved the beehive on Monday. The cold that frosty morning forced them all into the hive and I was able to block the entrance hole at last. That evening we moved it out to a part of the orchard where we don’t often go. It was heavy, about 150 pounds. On Wednesday morning, after giving the bees a few days to reorient themselves, I reopened the hive. They seemed a bit agitated that afternoon so, just to be safe, I mowed the lawn in my bee suit. By Thursday they’d settled down.
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| Moving the beehive. |
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| The hive in its new place. |
Now with the threat of being stung gone, I’m finally able to work in the parts of the garden that were off limits to me for weeks because of the bees. I found some good things there. The cabbage patch yielded some happy surprises – two heads of cauliflower and a bowlful of broccoli shoots that regrew after the woodchuck ate them. I was also able to inspect the few cabbages that survived the woodchuck and found several beautiful heads.
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| Savoy cabbages almost ready to harvest. |
The Autumnal Equinox arrived on Wednesday, so it’s officially fall now. I love fall. One chilly evening last week Hannah and I were sitting and talking about the reasons why we love this season. We decided it was because of the brief beauty and the overwhelming nostalgia that comes with it. There are so many triggers for happy yet melancholy autumn memories – the colors of the changing trees, the rich smell of fallen leaves on the lawn and the fragrance of burning leaves, the foggy mornings that come as the earth cools, the scent of wood smoke carried on cool evening breezes, the amber light of autumn evenings, the sweet crisp taste of fresh apple cider. This is the perfect season for taking long afternoon walks and for driving on the back roads anytime we can. The mornings are especially beautiful now with the perfect autumnal mix of fog and golden sunlight.
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| View from the top of Cobb Hill on a foggy morning. |
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| Dawn this morning. |
Saturday was a busy day. We had a list of things to do and we managed to get most of them done. Stacey spent most of the day working on furniture. She got rid of our old couch. It wouldn’t fit through the door, so she sawed it in pieces and hauled it to the dump. Then she re-upholstered several chairs and ottomans. I spent part of the day painting the wood stove. I used a high temperature paint. While I was painting it, I thought of the episode in Farmer Boy when Almanzo got mad at his sister while blacking the stove in their good parlor and threw the blacking brush at her and hit the wall leaving a big black spot on the wallpaper. I was careful with my stove blacking and only dripped a little on the tile floor. After a second coat that I’ll put on tomorrow, the stove will look like new. The re-upholstered furniture looks good as new too. I love work days.
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| Stacey sawing up the old couch. |
This week I will be putting things in the garden and pulling things out. The things going in are fall bulbs – tulips, daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths. I’ll also plant garlic. The things going out are all the spent annuals. There are only a few things left in the garden now – cosmos, colchicum, autumn anemones, and asters.
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| Double colchicum in bloom. |
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| Double-click cosmos. |
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| White autumn anemone. |
Tonight is the final “blood moon” eclipse. We probably won’t get to see it as it is supposed to be cloudy and raining tonight. There has been a lot of hype about this eclipse. I know some people are expecting catastrophic events to accompany it. Though I do believe it qualifies as a latter day sign and wonder in the heavens, I don’t think it will trigger doomsday. The doomsday hype reminds me of all the panic with Y2K. That turned out to be a non-event. I think this will be the same thing. If I’m wrong, you can correct me – if we’re all still here, that is.
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| The last rose of summer. |
