Today is the Autumnal Equinox or simply known as the first
day of Autumn. This is a splendid day as we put the heat of summer behind us
and welcome in the freshness of Autumn. Looking around I do not see a lot of
Autumn yet in the trees or even in the fields. It is as if Autumn is holding all
the color in her hands and will fling it when she is good and ready. I do hope
she is ready soon.
As much as the heat and I do not get along, it seems as if
this summer really flew by. Maybe because the kids all went back to school so
early or maybe because I want each moment, each day to last a little longer. However,
I love Autumn. I love the colors, the smells, the fresh air through open
windows. I do love Halloween and all the events that come with it. (More on that
next week.)
I think Autumn, though, takes me through times gone by more
than any other season. Even though I do not remember dancing in the hayfields on
this day, I know my grandmother’s kitchen was full of garden scents. Canning
jars lined her counters with tomatoes and peppers, and everything else in the
garden. I helped grandpa dig those potatoes that we planted on St. Patrick’s Day.
By now they were large and ready to dig. I was always careful not to stab a
potato, but if that happened, grandma just tossed those into the soup as they
could not be stored. After a full day of putting the garden to rest, dinner was
full of all the treasures which did not make it into canning jars or the root
cellar.
Maybe my love of gardening and preserving came from my
grandmother. Although, when we first started our farm and I was picking green
beans by the trash bags, my grandmother would write to me. She would say things
like, “What are you thinking, child? All that work! Not necessary anymore!” Seriously she did. It was so much work, and I
really knew nothing.
Except from learning skills from her, I read dozens of books
about canning and preserving and building chicken coops and shearing sheep. I
couldn’t get enough of it. We were all young on the farm and learned these
skills together. The boys knew the garden was a mainstay for us.
The outhouse was on the other side of the garden, so I
always teased the boys to take a different row to weed on their way out and
back. I did the same thing. Of course, nighttime was a bit tricky!
We planted, we canned, we built a root cellar, we covered
carrots with straw. If you remember, all that canning was done on a wood cook
stove. And not just gardening, we cut firewood, gathered hickory nuts and walnuts
for the boys to clean. I made mittens and scarves out of our sheep’s wool. As I
look back at those farm years, sometimes I wonder how did that all get done and
teach at the same time? I guess because we were young, ambitious, determined
and happy. It was new for this suburbia girl to learn how to live off the land.
I never knew those things.
Today is different. My canning consists of a few jars of strawberry
jam for gifts and a five-pound bucket of potatoes and one bucket for onions.
The rest of the food comes from the farmer’s market. I gather squash and
pumpkins for my own cellar. With no family to feed, I can get by on a few garden
items.
This week is the Autumn Equinox, and it is also the Harvest
Moon on Friday night. Friday night is football night in our county. I know it
will be beautiful sitting in the stands watching the moon rise up across from
the bleachers. Where will you be when the moon rises up over our fields and
homes?
Please take time to notice the shift this week. Everything
shifts at the equinox. Nights come more quickly, jackets now hang by the back door,
and soup is bubbling on the stove.
Of course, there is poetry. There is always poetry to
welcome in the harvest and the harvest moon.
“Thou comest, Autumn,
heralded by the rain.
Blessing the farms
through the vast domain,
Thy shield is the red
harvest moon,
suspended in the
heaven’s o’er hanging eaves.”
Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
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