Autumn Stewardship

(Autumn Landscape by Victor Westerholm)

“…True, the urge to feast and relax can be intense. The long summer months out in the scorching sun are enough to sap the energy from even the fittest of us. It would indeed be unwise to continue work at the summer’s relentless pace, but labor on the land cannot stop just yet. Harvest is, after all, only half of the work needed for the food to reach our plates. Much of the produce from land must be processed if it is to become edible; other crops need to be preserved to prevent spoilage. The smallholder and farmer must not relax yet, however, for he can still augment the good of the harvest if he embraces frugality and patience, fastidiousness and orderly preparation for just a little longer.

There is no need to grumble about the continual hard work of autumn, however, for preparation can be an enjoyable affair. Canning, preserving, and pickling have all experienced a renaissance in recent times as people rediscover the arts and customs of their grandparents. Preserving was once a vital task for homesteaders whose subsistence lifestyle required them to store away food from their land to sustain them through leaner months. Nowadays, the supermarkets present us with a year-round abundance imported from distant shores, and so the winter famines of yesteryear seem a lost cultural memory. But it is still wise to keep a few cans, jars, and tins in the cupboard just in case of a winter storm. Moreover, there is no better source of winter comfort than food that your own hands have harvested and preserved, and there is no better food to share by the hearth with your neighbors, family, and friends.

Humans are not the only ones who are preparing throughout the autumn. All around us, animals, both seen and unseen, are making provision for their upcoming winter. Food for them must either be stockpiled in dens and hollows or in layers of fat upon their own bodies. This really is a matter of life and death for these creatures, unlike for those of us who can relatively easily pop down to the store mid-January for another jar of jam. It is a good reminder that we should always be generous in leaving some food and resources available for the creatures who share our neighborhoods and gardens, respecting the hedgerows and milkweed and leaving a few sunflower heads unharvested for the squirrels. It might just be the lifeline they need this year.

…Before long, the last few leaves will have fallen from the trees, leaving their skeletal forms bare. The sun will surrender its dominion over to the night, and frosts will begin to cover the ground. Perhaps we will even soon see the first few flakes of snow fall from the heavens, a lovely but warning taste of the flurries and blizzards to come. Creatures great and small will slow down, hunker down, and await the frozen months for which autumn has so carefully prepared, and in our homes fireplaces will be kindled once again. Winter is approaching.”
~Hadden Turner