On the corner of Summer & Fall

We are now at the corner of summer and fall.  While some days the temperature is in the mid 70's, the daylight hours are getting shorter, mums are in full bloom and you can't help but notice the golden leaves collecting on the ground. 

All the tomato plants from the garden with the exception of my still ripening tomatillos, have been added to the compost pile.  We have both anerobic and aerobic compost piles.
The anerobic requires no air, that is the cold pit compost hole that is filled mostly with kitchen scraps.  Ideally, the aerobic compost requiring air, needs at least a cubic yard of space to go thermophilic with a combination of both green & brown yard clippings.  With all crops being pulled from the garden, it is now being planted with a cover crop of buckwheat to enrich next years plantings.  A cover crop fixes nitrogen into the soil, which is what plant roots thrive on. 

It's not that I don't like fall, it is a beautiful time of year, I'm just not ready for it to settle in yet.  You know what comes after fall...winter.  With all the global changes we really can't compare the current year to last.  For the past several years, each growing season has proved to be different from the prior.

With everything else going south in the fall, Mums in bloom put a smile on our face.  

The copper-orange leaves on the Mountain Ash are as pretty as the Aspen in the high country.