Autumnal

Our first light frost hit in the wee hours, and yesterday, while I was getting wood for the stove's first burn, I should have also put row-covers on our basil "bushes." They were huge, but today they are frost-bitten and brown. Only a small plot of basil close to the house survived, and I've trimmed basil to dry and covered the rest, for a pesto-finale this weekend.

In the garden, under earlier-laid row covers, lettuce, collards, and cabbage soldier on, free of 7 ground hogs and 3 raccoons (one a rabid animal) who have gone to meet their maker by my hand. I'm not too keen on that last part, but even with excellent fencing, they got in. Welcome to country living.

Next  year, electricity and dogs are in order.

Timing is everything. Had we baited traps earlier or covered the basil, we'd have lost less from what was, admittedly, a good first-year harvest.  The seasons of nature and all the critters under those cerulean skies of Autumn don't wait for homesteaders to check their Facebook profiles and e-mail.

There are consequences to not paying attention. Most of the time, we just don't notice them because technology insulates and numbs us.