Day 273

With the fall season started, I am reminded of the adventures that are ahead of us. Even though fall is my favorite time of year, I always seem to long for the season farthest away. On a  bitter, blustery winter day, I’m often reminiscent of sun-scorched afternoons at the playground or on a trail. Inversely, with sweat dripping off my brow, I wish for the crunch of snowshoes trekking through the woods. I know that as beautiful as this fall is sure to be, I will be thinking about planting wildflowers and preparing our garden come spring. But maybe, just maybe, I will keep myself busy enough to not even worry about the season half a year away.

I do have plans for the fall. 

Garden cleanup will be essential. Our plants have overtaken our garden space. Both a blessing and a curse, we look forward to re-evaluating what plants we get in the ground next year and where we place them. 

While I won't need to mow the trail as often, I do hope to continue to maintain it by traveling it. The trail will become more permanent and solidified if we use it. I do hope to add some extensions to the trail when the very tall grasses die back a bit. I also plan on putting up bird houses in preparation for flying friends in spring. 

I am also hoping to continue improving our nature play area. Beside moving logs to border the area and use as climbing structures, I will need to spread more wood chips and spread them out more evenly.

Winterizing the barn for our flock is also a priority. Luckily, it doesn’t take much. The barn isn’t heated but as long as their water doesn't freeze, the birds will be fine. We purchased a few electric waterers, so we will test them out to see if they still work. I hope to acquire a few extra straw bales and use them to help insulate the coops. We may still update electricity and/or install windows before  winter arrives.

Organizing the barn is an ongoing process but getting the barn ready for winter is becoming more and more important.