Fall on the Farm......

Fall on the Farm – While mornings with temps in the 30s, and days when it is dark at 7:00pm might seem to signal the end of growing seasons on the farm, it is actually quite the opposite as it is just the beginning! Summer flower blooms on the farm are few and far between with just a few zinnias and dahlias trying to hold on. They don’t have long though, because with the first frost they will be gone. My large annual flower field will soon be tilled under and sowed with Crimson Clover, which will act as a cover crop, preventing erosion, helping to fight weeds but most importantly providing very important nitrogen when tilled under in the spring. My perennial field will be prepped for winter with remaining flower stems being cut to the ground, where they will wait dormant until next spring and summer. The ending of those blooms only marks the beginning of the next blooms. My high tunnel has been planted with Dianthus, snap dragons, straw flowers, and Bells of Ireland plants, with just a few more varieties waiting to be planted. In addition to plants, lily bulbs have been planted in the high tunnel. Careful preparation goes into making the most of my space while saving a little space for dahlias to be planted in the spring and a row for early sunflowers. I will be planting peonies soon in my perennial field in anticipation of the blooms that it will take three years to mature to before providing blooms that can be cut. I will also be scattering some Nigella or love in a mist seed, to produce those airy beautiful spring blooms. In addition to all that I am planting, the bulbs that I left in the ground after blooming last spring will be starting to grow in anticipation of blooming this spring. Can you believe that all this is going on right now? Fall is definitely a time of getting up early to try to make the most of your daylight, unless you can work in your lighted high tunnel which I have been doing, or you can sow a field in the dark like Chris has been doing.

Speaking of Chris, fall is a busy time of the year for him too! He has harvested the corn and is getting ready to harvest our soybeans. He has sowed grass for hay, which he was doing until midnight the other night to get it in before the rain. He has sowed oats and will be sowing wheat this week. Chris just like me, is planting the crops now that we will harvest next year.

Fall is the time to herald the end of one season while hopefully planning and preparing for the next season. It is a time of beauty when the leaves change, a time of fall sounds or should I say the sound of falling acorns. It is the time for gentle breezes which you love to work outside in, and the time for leaf piles to jump in (Peyton and Keegan of course). It is a time to be thankful for the year that you have had and a time to make memories! My newest fall memory occurred the other night on the edge of a pitch-dark field that was getting sown for grass (hay). It was the time I spent with my brother when I took him supper and we sat on the back of the pick-up truck, talking while he ate. Surrounded by the sounds of nature and only the lights from the tractor and the stars illuminating the night, a priceless memory was made!