As Autumn Winds Down on the Farm

As autumn winds down and farmers prepare for winter, there were always a multitude of tasks on the farm.  Some were tedious, while others enjoyable.  I guess it all depended on how one looked at it.

• Stashing bales of hay (and before the days of baling) against the back side of the house to keep the frost and cold from invading the cellar so much and causing pipes to freeze.  We also had to do this with the north side of the barn.
• Making sure water pipes were insulated and covered, too.
• Putting up the last vegetables in jars.
• Digging the potatoes and store them in the large bin in the cellar.  There might be some carrots there, too.
• Shelling corn, in the hand turned machine, to bag for the chickens.  Sometimes we stored the corn in the corn house and then shelled as needed.
• Making sure everyone had boots and mittens to ward off the coming winter cold.
• Stacking firewood and splitting kindling.  We had a wood fired cookstove and furnace, which took a lot of wood.

What winter preparation tasks do you undertake as autumn winds down.  Do you have specific ones you remember from childhood?

Autumn's Colored Leaves & Memories on the Farm

Autumn was very colorful on our farm with many maples in the yard and in the woods surrounding the fields.  The maple across the road from the house, near the spring, always turned a vibrant red each year.  We could look out the kitchen window, that Father built above the sink, and see the colorful woodland beyond the barn and corn fields.

Frost often covered the yard and pastures in early morning.  We could see the cows' breath as they meandered to the barn.  Lacy bits of ice formed along the banks of the brook that ran between our house and barn from Whaley Lake, then met the Gardner Hollow Brook in our pasture.  Where did it run from there?  Down through Poughquag, I think.  But I don't know after that...unless it was Fishkill Creek.

What are your autumn memories?

Have you ever put together an autumn memories puzzle?