You can just tell when fall is around the corner. You can feel it in those gentle breezes that begin to blow right about the same time you start noticing the slight hints of fall color in the trees around you. Before you know it, cooler temperatures have arrived and the leaves, once green, are now in assorted shades of red, orange, and yellow. There are patches of fog in the mornings and evenings and rain becomes more frequent.
Fall has arrived at Boulder’s Farm. All around us, we can see the leaves changing color before they fall to the ground. Temperatures have dropped enough that we’ve awoken to more than a few frosty mornings. It’s been raining more. Apples have been ripening and dropping. Fall also means deer season and we’ve had a few hunters out and about trying to bag an elusive deer. Lastly, the wild turkeys have returned and are once again gobbling away.
We’ve been busy with fall projects like covering our pallets of firewood with tarps and harvesting the last of our beans and corn. Before long we’ll be getting things buttoned down for winter. That means disconnecting hoses, winterizing water pipes, and generally getting things tidy. It also means that the forage for the animals will start to get lean, so we are back to supplementing our horses’ daily feedings with hay—and corn stalks, which they happily devour. Of course, we have plenty of ongoing projects just like before—fence work, firewood, barn construction, etc. Lastly, to keep the farmhouse from becoming cold and damp, we’re back to having fires in our fireplace.