End of a season

Yesterday I picked loads of peppers, knowing it will likely be the last time I do so this season.  I chopped them up and put them in bags so we can use them in dinners throughout the winter.  I never put enough up to actually sustain us through the season, but it’s always such a treat pulling out something that we grew and eating it for dinner.

Today I am continuing to work on putting the gardens to bed for the winter.  I need to pull out the brown tomato plants and perhaps plant some spinach in their place.  I should find some garlic seed and get it planted, but first all the weeds from the tilled bed need taken care of. I set up a rack in our addition because it gets all that good south facing sun and will start some herbs and microgreens in there to nourish us during the cold months.

I find myself ready for the winter this year.  I normally dread it, and maybe it’s been the long summerlike weather we’ve had this autumn, but I am ready to be cozy.  Ready for the feel of the holidays, the long, sometimes dreadful, and hopefully snowy days of January and February.  I’m ready for the foliage to die back so I can resume my daily walk without getting poked by briars and bit by mosquitos.

Without those long, sometimes dreadful days of winter I wouldn’t fully appreciate the late February day that finally rises above 50 degrees, or the ease of eating garden produce all summer long.  I am not even close to being a seasonal living guru, but I have come to appreciate what each one brings.

For everything there is a season.  And as we shift out of summer/fall, I look forward to the stillness winter will bring.  I look forward to what God will speak because there are less distractions and chores, and I will take those words with me into the busy season of next year.

It sure would be different to live in a place without four distinct seasons, so even when I’m shivering I will remember the gift it is to look forward to the coming season.