Autumn Harvesting by a High Desert Hobby Farmer

Yesterday three people (my cousin, a friend and me) spent hours harvesting apples, tart cherries and peaches from the trees in the yard.  My hat is off to real farmers and their family.  I humbly salute all of you!  I have one peach tree, several cherry trees but the only one bearing fruit in the early fall, an apricot tree, a small raised container for strawberries and two apple trees.   This morning my aching joints and tired muscles are so thankful that the apricots are not yet ripe.  The garage and kitchen are now full of fruit that needs to be canned, juiced, jammed or frozen.  I'll bag some of this produce and take it to the food pantry later today.  Still there is much cooking to be done.  

Coxing food from the earth is gratifying work.  Thank you farmers of America!  What a hard job.  One I doubt many if not most of us give much thought to that on any given day.  I don't have to hire farm hands to pick acres of produce and then get the bounty to market. 

The flower garden is also demanding my attention.  There are 37 roses bushes that were planted by some other soul.  Now I find myself the unwitting steward of this plot of land.  Time to stop fertilizing and reduce the watering.  I'm not sad to stop the endless deadheading.  I think we will have one more bloom in early October, then I will prune.  Containers will need to be moved close to the house,  in-ground plants will be tidied and mulched with hay.  The plants and I begin the slow preparation for the winter that lies just a few months away from us.  Once again, I love the crisp aroma of autumn in the air but I also already miss summer.