Fall on the Homestead

Fall is always an interesting season on the homestead. While the rest of the world is settling into their cozy homes, drinking pumpkins spice lattes, baking pumpkin everything, and preparing for the upcoming holidays farmers everywhere are scrambling to finish those summer projects, finish harvesting, fix everything that breaks from fall storms, all while getting very wet (or maybe that’s just the PNW).

This last weekend we spent harvesting turkeys. The Pacific Northwest did not fail us at trying to send every type of weather at us. We even saw hail! It was wet, cold, and a bit miserable but the completion felt better than ever. Something about filling your table and the table of so many others on a special holiday that is completely heartwarming.

While it feels good to get the turkeys completed for the year we still have pigs that need to be rotated every two weeks. This requires clearing heavily brushed areas to be able to set up electric fence wires, or as we call it clearing lines. Also, the garden has been completely abandoned and is now self-destructing. We will just call that compost for now… And probably the most exciting AND stressful thing of all is we are preparing for cows! They should be here in January or February which also means more fence clearing, electric fence training, and pasture rotation.

This year has been especially difficult for many of the farmers I know. The extra warm summer changed all the harvest schedules, pushed back projects, and made all our Fall seasons a bit more stressful. We are incredibly lucky in the PNW to have very mild seasons, which allows us to farm, garden, and harvest year-round if we desire. I strongly believe though that everyone needs seasons in their life, and we all need a season of “rest”. It’s hard to balance that when the weather is “good enough” to go outside.

Are you feeling stressed this fall? How are you combatting that energy and preparing for your season of rest?