My favorite Season

Fall is my favorite season.  I love the wind that comes through, cleaning the leaves off the trees, and blowing in the freshest of air.  I love the party colors so many plants wear.  And most of all, I love that after all of the various disappointments of the summer season, Fall offers hope.

Yes, hope.  In the Fall.  I think that some people feel hopeful in the spring.  Or at least I think that spring is traditionally associated with hope.  But for me, the spring is so full of frenetic energy that I end up feeling tired and overwhelmed.  I do like the spring, but it is non-stop 15 hour a day energy.  The birds and the plants barely sleep, and neither do I.

Fall on the other hand, is refreshing.  It is dark enough that there are plenty of hours to sleep.  And there is a feeling of winding down as the plants go into their dormant season.  The earth takes deep, easy breaths, and I feel myself unwinding too.

And I feel renewed Hope.  For at this time of year, it doesn't matter how bad the summer weather was.  It doesn't matter how many insects descended on the broccoli, or why the squash got blossom end rot.  It doesn't matter because next year is a whole new year, with new possibilities.

As I put goat manure on the now empty vegetable beds, I can day dream about what I will grow next year.  I envision a row of purple carrots, and heirloom tomatoes.  And in my day dreams, the sun shines all summer, the insects don't eat too much of my crops and fungus' never materialize.  In the whirling wind and falling leaves of Fall, I weave delicious dreams of next year's garden.