Fall Chores

Fall tilling is a time for reflections. What we could and should have done differently this year, and what will be different next year. The beauty of the garden, is that there is always another year. And though every year is so different than anyone before it, the structure of the seasons are the frame in which the different seasons flow. Every year certain events happen at the same time, yet, every year is so different. I think this as I sit on my tractor, looking out over the fields, and the pastures where the cows continue to graze, even though we are into November.
I reflect on the garden, and all the rain we had this past summer. Surely, we wont have another year like that, but of course, next year could be so dry we ache for just a bit of that rain. This year was fairly cool, few of those hot days where even a breeze feels like a furnace. It's the finality of the seasons and the knowledge that soon we will be pouring over the seed catalogs that makes gardening so wonderful.
The cows will be off the pastures soon, and it will be too cold to till, and mow. But, for now, for this brief moment, it is warm enough to get our outside chores done.