That time of year...

It is officially October! October is a very special month to me for a myriad of reasons. First I was born on October 9th, so first reason, its my birthday month. Second reason is the season. I know technically its autumn, but there is just always something specific about October that, to me anyways, makes it feel like October has its own special season. Next there is Halloween, All Hallows, All Hallows Eve, Samhain; only the most spiritually influencing holiday of the year. I think aside from one's birthday and Christmas, eveyones favored holiday should be Halloween. Who doesn't love to dress up in a costume? So with all of these amazing aspects to October, I have dubbed it my time of the year.
   The leaves are changing in full bloom now with color coming from each and every direction. Each tree seems as if its a star changing from one phase of its life to the next as their colors go from green to yellows and golds, deep reds and burgundies. All these leaves have me thinking two things. I really need to buy a rake! And its time for scarecrows! Every year we take leaves and make our own homemade scarecrows which hang out on our front porch to scare trick-or-treaters on Halloween. I remember growing up instead of stuffing some old clothes to make scarecrows, my friends and I would rake up enough leaves for a big enough pile to hide all three of us in at the bottom of my driveway. When a car would come barreling down the street BAM! We would jump out of the leaves with a rake just as the car was passing my driveway to scare the crap out of the driver. Lets just say we got into some trouble when one of the cars careened into a telephone pole...
   Fall harvests. Its that time of year, the time to collect your last harvests of the season (unless you have either a cold box or a hoop house of course ^.-), and to clear out the garden patches for the spring plantings. Well my goal is to become as self-sustainable as I can be. So we have decided that we are turning the very back of our yard into our own little farm. We have mapped it out and planned out all the seeds to be planted in the spring. There will be five beds, and I am finished with three so far. It's a lot of work digging up all that dirt and removing the turf AND THEN tilling the soil! Just for the three beds it took me two days to do. (I will have to go out and take pictures when they are all done so you can see the plan) We plan to go to the local composting center and get a bunch of free compost to mix in with the soil so that in the spring we just have to loosen up the earth before we can start planting. I am so excited for next years harvest! I think the chickens even like the garden beds because they helped us dig it up the whole time while they searched for bugs and ate any grubs they came across. They are adorable when they help me in the garden!
   Now my favorite (and yes I have may favorites but this is really the biggest thing) thing about this time of year, is the cooking that goes on. Pumpkins! They are all ready to either be harvested or have already been harvested and are ready to be carved for Halloween and cooking! Pumpkin pies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin breads, pumpkin soup, pumpkin ice cream. The list goes on and on of the many wonderful things that you can make with a pumpkin. So many that I can't keep up, and pumpkin is utterly one of the most amazing fruits. And yes. I call it a fruit. Not a vegetable.
   So even on a rainy day like today, I can't help but absolutely love October and this time of year.

Ciao xo