Seed Fall 2025

 

Welcome Autumn

The moon is full tonight, I trust, somewhere up above the rain clouds and high winds that we're experiencing.

It's been a very busy month finishing the garden season.

All of the harvests are done.

Carrot harvesting

Beets and carrots are in the root cellar.

Beet greens

The beet greens were removed and we're still eating these.

Moving trellises

All of the dried beans have been harvested. We had to carry the last four trellises into the garage so they could finish maturing safe from the frost.

I have 12 bushels of beans in the cellar waiting to be threshed out.

Surprise harvest

We got a very late harvest of shiitakes. This was totally unexpected. They were small but made a great soup.

Rainbow chard, the last harvest

The last thing we pulled from the garden was Swiss Chard.

Applesauce for the freezer

We have had to purchase apples this year. I have put 12 pints of applesauce into the freezer.

Zinnias saved from the frost

I picked the last of the zinnias the evening before our hard frost.

Once the harvests were done, we began closing down the garden in earnest.

Bob tackling the weeds

We had a huge amount of weeding to do, making up for last summer when I was unable to work in the garden.

We spent several long days but finished the job (in spite of the "help" we received from our porch cat).

Demanding attention

Now the beds are cleaned and all mulched!

A job well done

We also did some other chores.

More firewood

Bob had to get the chainsaw out and cut up some large branches blown down from the trees next to the garden.

Planting garlic & shallots

I got the garlic and shallots planted for next year.

See that striped tail!

Bob got four winter cat shelters in place. You can see this one in use just about a half hour after being set up. This is his favorite shelter.

We were too busy to get away this month, except for the No Kings 2.0 rally.

Making Good Trouble

We travelled to Oswego to join family members (and 1000 others) for the event.

We also went to the huge Ithaca book sale two times. We scored 22 books and 3 CDs. Since the garden has been finished, we've been reading a lot.

We finished the garden on October 30th. This is right on schedule, for we try to be done by Samhain (Oct 31st).

For us Samhain marks the time when we shift our focus from providing for our physical needs, to providing for our inner needs. It's the start of our serious rest period. Now we're reading, thinking and re-creating ourselves. I'm knitting and Bob's catching up on little jobs.

We hope that you too, can begin to see late fall and winter as times to relax and rebuild. Our culture insists on seeing this season in a negative light. A burden and distasteful. Try to break free from that prejudice. It really can be such a nourishing season. Embrace it as such.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Lovely Autumn

Seed Fall/Frost Time 2024

Milkweed seeds

The leaves are all down, with the exception of our large red oak. We've had a decent frost, but no hard freeze yet. It's been dry, quite breezy and generally, warmer than it should be.

The nice weather allowed us to finish up our outside chores on schedule - October 30th to be exact.

Laying out garlic bulbs

I have planted the garlic and shallots for next year.

A filled wood bin

Bob has filled the wood bin in the cellar.

Bob and his compost stash

He's covered all of the beds with a layer of fresh compost.

A pretty new compost pile

And our compost pile has been restacked for a proper balance of green and brown material. We tend to get out of balance with too much green until the leaves come down. Now it's as it should be.

The garden is now at rest.

Nature's perfect solar collector

This is one of our porch cats. We call him Marmalade because we have no idea what his real name is. He, at least at one time, belonged to someone in the neighborhood, because he wears a collar. It appears that he's been on his own for quite some time, but we don't know for sure. He spends a good deal of time at our house. If we are in the garden, he's generally there, too.

This is Bob being busy

He's really attached to Bob. As you can see, it can be difficult for Bob to get work done. (Work other than petting and warming up a cold cat.) 

On cold days Marmalade not only cries at our kitchen door but knocks on it trying to lure Bob outside to sit with him. Mind you, he has five different warming boxes available for his use.

Scarlet Runner beans

Now that we're inside, I've begun my bean threshing. I got two bushels done earlier this week.

Time to remove the toilet

Bob has resumed work on the bathroom. He finally had to remove the toilet so that he could finish taping and mudding. He didn't want to take out this fixture for two reasons; it's a yucky job, and he hasn't been looking forward to making trips to the downstairs bathroom a couple of times each night. Fortunately, so far neither of us has fallen down the stairs in a drowsy stupor.

The drywall work is now nearly finished, and I should begin priming and painting next week. This needs to be done before installing the shower surround, vanity ...

Our book sale haul

We went to the Autumn book sale in Ithaca and stocked up on reading material for our winter rest time.

Future sweater

I have also begun Bob's winter sweater.

We went on two outings with the fine weather we had this month.

Cornell's Sapsucker Woods

Early in the month we walked at Sapsucker Woods on a sunny and warm day. Tee shirts in the beginning of November?!

Salmon River Falls

Samhain marks the halfway point between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. We celebrated the day by traveling north and visiting the Salmon River Falls in Orwell. 

The Salmon River bisects the village where I grew up. Because my family had no car, I never saw the falls, despite their close proximity. Now I have seen them, and they are quite nice. We stopped off to see Lake Ontario (Selkirk Shores State Park) on the way home. We had a very enjoyable day. By the way, our new electric car took us there and back comfortably and without a glitch.

Settling in

We continue to try and balance our projects with restorative pursuits. Some days we're more successful than others, but we keep at it. Each day is a new opportunity to pursue balance.

Sunrise on November 10

We hope that you may achieve a desirable level of balance this season, especially heading into the season of holidays. Here's something to ponder. Take time to consider what you do for the holidays and what you would like to do. Traditions can be comforting or confining. Don't be afraid to step out toward what you would like to do. Holidays are meant to feed the soul, not drain it. Pursue what feeds, not what drains.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Supervisor Marmalade

Full Beaver Moon