Today's a beautiful though chilly day at the farmette. The outside world feels like the end of days - Trump in the White House, multiple hurricanes pounding the Caribbean and southern U.S., and a massively destructive earthquake in Mexico! Things are quite a bit more sedate at our little country retreat, where fall has truly kicked into gear and there are even portents of how much snow we'll get in the ensuing season. I'm old enough to remember rural neighbours and relatives pointing out the 'coming of a hard winter', and I've seen some of them around the property.
First, the cones on evergreens. Folklore (and my dear departed mother) says that, if there is an overabundance of cones high up on trees, there will be a lot of the white stuff.
Next, the geese start migrating early. The pond at the end of our road was populated by waddling honkers way sooner than normal, I think. This year, the pracitce missions in the sky around the farmette started around the end of August!
The farmers' almanac says that bigger spider webs are a sign of a tough, snowy winter. Look at this gigantic beauty just outside our toolshed!
Apparently, when the goldenrod are in full bloom, you can count on six weeks to the first hard frost. Well, our back pasture tells me it's going to be sooner rather than later!
Finally, the leaves started turning colour early...at least they seem to have. Or maybe it's just me feeling like we got rooked out of a real summer, with all the bloody rain we had all season.
While we'll have to wait to see what winter actually brings, I'm going to enjoy the cooler temperatures - and hopefully sunnier days - of autumn at the farmette.
