Autumn roars in

As if on cue, the winds swept in and the clouds descended on our little Puget Sound island a day and a half after the last of our fall events.  Sunday dawned bright and beautiful for cider-pressing with our pal David and cleaning up the debris still left from the farm tour.  Then Monday brought the fall weather we're more familiar with.

The rains may be upon us soon.

But, we would be grinches to complain - what a summer and early fall it's been.

In the swirl of farm-related activity, there's been a fair amount of regular life that's been taking place as well.  Our journey into the worlds of both middle school and homeschooling so far have been much less dramatic than we'd anticipated.  We are fortunate to count some of the best teachers anywhere among our clan.

Even though the rains and short days are just around the corner, I'd be lying if I didn't fess up that fall is actually my favorite season.  I love the cool dry days and the chilly nights, the culmination of all the planting and tending, the rustle of wind through falling leaves.

Here on the farm, of course, it means more work - witness these past few weekends!  Still to come is shearing, and slaughter.  We're building another shed to finally provide a home for hay and bicycles, racing against time to finish it before mud season.  But the work is good work, clean work, work that produces something tangible and solid at the end of the day.  Same goes for cooking down that bumper crop of tomatoes into sauce - feels so satisfying to click those containers shut and line them up in the freezer.

Many folks think of fall as a time of death - the trees shed their leaves, the plants in the garden die back.  But somehow it always feels like renewal to me.  Summer has offered up its plenty, now's the time to shut the windows and turn inward, to reflect, to prepare for the winter ahead and plan for the spring beyond.

Happy fall-