Well here it is…the first day of Autumn. The past week has felt more like summer than autumn, but the week before that there was a hard frost, and that was it for the garden.
I love spring planting and preparing the garden, but I have to say I also love this time of year, when it’s time to put the garden to rest.
I have spent hours digging weeds, pulling out dead tomatoes and beans and zucchini.
Not my favorite job in the garden, and such a sorry sight. If only I’d covered those tomatoes that night.
Then there was the garlic…a great harvest this year, and a satisfying job to clean and prepare it.
Dead-heading the flowers from the peppermint left a lovely scent on my hands.
The sheep are getting their winter coats, Julie looking quite beautiful.
Odin the sheep-herder, walking them out to the field this morning.
Emma waiting patiently down the path.
What did we find in the field today?
Three Sandhill Cranes just walking around.
This past weekend we cut up firewood and I packed it home with the tractor. (Love that tractor) Yesterday I stacked it all in the shed and last night it poured. What a good feeling, to be tucked up warm under the covers, listening to the rain and knowing that the wood was under cover.
All these little autumn chores…preparing for the winter ahead.
In town shopping today, and I picked up my annual bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey,
getting prepared for the hot mugs of Scalteen this winter. ( See the March 10, 2014 post)
It is the first of day of Autumn, kind of grey and rainy out…might be a good night for that first sip!