10.1.23
October first! “A Nip and a Punch for the First of the Month” to all my friends out there! Darrell and I still carry on that traditional old saying to see who can get it in before the other when the first day of a new month rolls around! Of course, I have a slight advantage over Darrell since each morning I write the date on the glass jars containing Heidi’s daily offering of milk. So, I always know what day it is although many times I end up responding with “A dig and a kick for being so quick!” since I do not always beat him to the punch – no pun intended!
October is coming in like October’s should come in but have not done so for the past couple of years. Finally, we have an October that enters with a borderline frosty chill in the air. The leaves are turning golden on the trees and there is a definite feeling with the days getting shorter that the year is in its winding down phase. Funny how after the Autumn Equinox one starts to notice how quickly the sun goes down, how at half past five in the morning it is still dark outside. Something in me these days actually enjoys that. Maybe because another trip completed around the sun has made me see the wisdom of slowing down too. Gone are the days when I would be outside as soon as it was light, ready to start a full day of fencing or butchering. Now I take the time to sit and enjoy the sunrise, appreciate that second or third cup of tea before heading down around seven o’clock to milk Heidi.
This time of year, however, is still a busy, bustling one. Yesterday, two of our cabbages went in the sauerkraut bucket – 15 quarts total – and will sit in the corner of the kitchen fermenting away for the next fortnight or so. After that, the bucket will reside in the pantry, ready for us to dip out a jar of the tangy treat throughout the winter and coming spring. Darrell harvested all our potatoes the other day as well as the Acorn squash and I picked what beans remained on our prolific little plants, knowing a good frost was just around the corner. The tomatoes, which have been slow to come on this year, are just starting to turn. Darrell and I improvised and erected a temporary “hoop house” over the vines in the hopes it would ward off early frosts enough to let the fruit ripen a tad more. I have picked enough red globes to fill a canner but there are many more green tomatoes still to be harvested.
One year I got the great idea to pluck the entire crop of vines of big green tomatoes from the ground right before the first frost hit. I hung the laden vines upside down from the rafters of the barn, knowing the fruit would continue to ripen yet be protected from frost. Well, that is a great idea and yes, it does work, as long as you check the tomatoes frequently and pluck them from the vines before they get too ripe and fall themselves! Splattered tomatoes on the ground are not conducive to being canned. This year we decided to try the hoop house instead.
Our plaits of onions are nice and dry and ready to be moved into the root cellar where they will hang from the ceiling. Boxes of potatoes, the tubers nestled in layers of straw, will be stacked in one corner and the acorn squash in another. The cabbages remaining in the garden will be harvested and shared with friends, but the Brussel sprouts still stand tall, waiting for a good, hard frost to make them perfect for eating. Unlike a lot of folks, I never strip the lower leaves from my Brussel’s, preferring to keep them in place to protect the still growing young sprouts underneath. As the weather turns colder and snow starts to fly, those leaves continue to protect the sprouts, keeping them tender and delicious. When we want sprouts with Sunday dinner I pop to the garden and harvest what I need from a plant here and a plant there. All through the coldest of winter months, our sprouts patiently wait in the garden for harvesting. To me, nothing beats going out on a frosty morning to pluck sprouts fresh from the plants for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner or pulling carrots, orange and delicious from the old hot tub on our back deck that we turned into an excellent carrot bed!
Along with putting away the garden’s bounty, October will see me in full soaping and lotion making mode. It is a time when I try to get all my soap storage boxes filled to the brim in preparation for upcoming holiday bazaars – yes, dare I say it, but Christmas is not that far away! Not only are soap and lotions on my mind, but it is time to pull out the dried fruit and spices, the currants, sultanas, raisins, and of course the sherry. Christmas cake baking season is here! This is the time when the house will soon be filled with the delicious smell of baking Christmas cakes. Large ones, small ones and a few medium sized ones will come out the oven after hours of baking. Once cooled they will be lavishly doused with good sherry before being wrapped up tight and placed on the “aging” shelf in the pantry. Many will be adorned with a sticky label showing the names of folks who placed their order early! The longer the cakes are allowed to sit and mature, the better they taste! By the time December rolls around the cakes will be unwrapped, get a last good dousing of sherry before being rewrapped and shipped off to their new homes just in time to be enjoyed for holiday festivities.
Glancing out the window I see the sky is slowly starting to lighten. The cockerels are crowing, and the kettle is singing away on the wood cookstove. My second cup of tea is brewed and Darrell’s coffee smells delicious in the pot, ready for him when he gets up and joins me in the living room. This coming week will see us putting a steer in the cooler, long overdue I might add since another will soon need to follow him! I have to be in the right frame of mind to butcher and the weather needs to cooperate! According to the weatherman, this week will offer some excellent butchering days! Not too hot, not too cool… just right.
As I sit here in my easy chair, thinking about the coming month and what needs to be done, I find myself feeling surprisingly calm instead of anxious. Yes, busy days lie ahead, but there is no use worrying about how to squeeze everything in, what needs to be done will get done in due course. It always does. Every once in while something happens that jolts you, makes you see what is truly important in life. We only get so many trips around the sun; we should appreciate and enjoy each one. Eat the cake before the dinner, have that extra cup of tea before the workday starts, give the loved one in your life an extra warm hug and a kiss before you head out the door. Change the old saying of, “Never put off for tomorrow what you can do today,” to “What doesn’t get done today will be there for tomorrow,” and feel comfortable with it. That is what I am trying to do! The jolt I had in my life a fortnight ago reminded me how short life is and how precious are the loved ones in it. So yes, eat that cake with icing on top before dinner if it makes you happy! Have a glorious day!