The cool soft breeze flew across the back of my neck, making the hairs stand up and the goose bumps reappear. It had been months since a cold breeze crossed my path. There was no telling where it was going, but it felt great. For now, it seems that autumn has finally come. It’s my favorite season.
Fall is my favorite for many reasons. There is a slower pace of chores and things to do. Things begin to wind down at a nice, tolerable pace. The hustle of harvest is gone, but the harvesting is far from over. There is more time to cook and enjoy meals around the table, if it’s clean. There’s more time to invest in hobbies, such as music. There’s also more time to do nothing.
The youngest children finished their soccer tournament on the last hot day of the year. The sky was empty and blue all day. It was a fantastic day, and unlike their last tournament that happened in the spring, I didn’t have anything else on my mind.
With my garden mostly finished, I only have a few things remaining. I have peas, both bush and pole peas, that I’ll harvest in a few weeks. I also have some beans that are drying on the vine — both bush and pole varieties. This year, we are growing a few to determine future needs.
Becoming independent from the industrial food system takes a lot of work and requires an enormous number of calculations. No one can tell you how many Christmas Lima beans you need to plant in order to can a given number of funeral baked beans for the winter. So, we worked with a rudimentary plan from last year, bought some seed and planted, and we will weigh the results at harvest.
So far we’ve been able to harvest a large number of beans, mostly in the form of green beans, but also dried beans. I’m hoping that the weather continues to cooperate, and the flowers on the peas develop into a handsome crop of peas. It’s exciting but the goose bumps on my neck remind me of the fear that overshadows everything: Mother Nature!
The weather must always be dealt with first. My spring peas were doing great until the warm, dry summer air rushed in. There was no saving them. We did everything we could to harvest what was ready, and the few pounds of Champion of England peas encouraged me to try again. I’ve never really done succession planting before, but now it is a must.
In addition to a fall crop of peas, I should be able to harvest a good number of carrots throughout the winter. I’ve read that if you cover them with straw, you can harvest them through the winter. Fresh carrots are delicious right out of the ground.
As my greenhouse is nearly completed, I will attempt to make necessary modifications, including removing the floor. The greenhouse gets so warm, it needs something to absorb all the heat, and my lettuce and herbs can’t do all the work.
To my son’s dismay, we’ll be undoing what we redid, after we did it once or twice before. Hopefully, it’s for the last time — at least for now.
