Photo collage by Becky Nelson
The farm has been a chaotically busy place. We have been picking raspberries and summer vegetables and mowing lawns and hay fields. The rain and mild weather have given the lawns and hayfields new life with grass up to our knees in places. It is the height of the summer season.
But, wait. What? It’s October!
The colors have crept into the foliage and the leaves are starting to drop off many trees already, despite the very mild weather. I would assume the shorter daylight hours have tickled some internal clocks in the bears and other hibernating critters who are now trying to bulk up their fat stocks for winter naps. Deer have been scarce around the farm, abandoning most of the crops as they have met the last of their production and moving into the woods to nibble acorns and other wild fodder. I have noticed a few “wooly bear” caterpillars creeping about, and I am thinking the fall crop of tick nymphs will soon be crawling up our legs as we work in the fields. The typical fall happenings are happening.
The biggest gaggle of geese I have ever seen flew over the other day. There were ten or a dozen small flocks of travelers in the mass gathering and it pretty much filled the skies over our heads. We were standing near the barnyard with a truckload of hay, trying to decide whether to join forces and pick apples or pumpkins or head to the raspberry field to pick berries when the birds honked their way south.
We saw a small flock of starlings gather on the wires of the electric lines the other day, I assumed getting ready to join their goose friends on the way south. I read not too long ago that it is tough on bird flocks that are heading south because of light pollution around cities. Migrating songbirds tend to fly mostly at night, using the moon and stars as navigating tools according to ornithologists, and the lights from cities can pull them off course into dangerous places for bird flocks.
The warming climate is also messing with bird patterns, with springtime birds nesting up to a month earlier in some places before food sources are abundant enough to support a batch of chicks.
We are kind of messed up ourselves. The demands of picking and tending summer crops when the fall crops are also ready is tough. We are trying to adapt the best we can, opening the berries and apples to pick your own and cancelling fall travel plans to tend to the chores, but are going to have to come up with better plans in order to preserve our personal health and sanity. The old saw that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” is right on — not only dull but burnt out.
The weather isn’t the only change that needs us to adapt and change to survive. The ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic is still raging and the consequences and changes to the worldwide workforce are starting to be felt. Lots of folks either left their jobs for others, left their jobs for retirement a bit earlier than originally planned, or left their jobs because of personal needs like child care or to tend elder family members. The uncertainty of shutdowns, closings, and reduced hours due to illness or lack of staff in almost every small business, child care center, health care facility, emergency response center, government institution or essential business is a constant looming worry and struggle. The lack of folks to work on the docks, truck merchandise, pick and grow food — we are just beginning to see shortages and restrictions in our personal life that will have long term effects as the necessary changes to our habits and desires ripple through the economy and our personal lives.
It is a perfect time between seasons to take stock. Figure out what we have, what we need, what we desire and do a bit of self-reflection about what is truly important as we head forward. We are all in the same boat. Being rude, mean, or discourteous to each other in the struggle is not only unproductive, but unnecessary and damaging.
We need to cool our jets and prioritize.
As prices rise, do we really need 10 streaming services paid for every month? As gas prices rise, do we really need to make four trips to the store every week or can we concentrate on our lists and make one or two trips? Do I really need to clog up the emergency department for this infection or sniffle or will an urgent care center be just fine?
Little things matter, and these changes may be very necessary for a very long time.
As for me, is it more important to pick berries or apples today?
Becky Nelson is co-owner of Beaver Pond Farm in Newport, New Hampshire. You may reach her at [email protected].
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