"In a field one summer's day a grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest. "Why not come and chat with me," said the grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"
"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the ant, "and recommend you to do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came, the grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity."
Each year we put potatoes, onions, and apples away for the winter, and then feel safe and secure that as the snow comes down, we'll always have some food safe out there in the woods, ready for us when we want them. The amazing thing is that when the grocery stores only have soft, wrinkly nasty sprouted potatoes each year to offer, we can wade through the snow, lift the lid, and pull our crisp, crunchy, delicious potatoes. Somehow these cans, buried in our sandy soil, just provide the perfect storage spot for them.
We now have three cans buried, the one Jim's working on has mesh bags of potatoes layered in straw to keep them separated, the can behind him has red and golden delicious apples, and the smaller one to the back has bags of onions. What more could we need?
The garden is winding down. We get a few things every day, but not much now. Today we picked a few tomatoes, one small cucumber, and there's a big bunch of green beans waiting for the time hunger for them strikes us.
We also have some things we planted recently coming on. The greens, peas, beets, radishes and lettuces will hopefully provide some goodies yet. This is our first year to try those, but they're looking good so far.
I thought this spot at the back end of the garden showed such neat color and complexity. In the very foreground is our new fence enclosing the garden. Then right inside that is the row of arched pipe supports I put up to hold the climbing green beans. Then the new patch of greens coming up for fall, and next to that, horseradish plants reaching for the sky.
The empty space is where the melon plants have been pulled, and now it's covered by grass clippings, enriching the soil for next spring's crop. The brilliant orange of the marigolds provides a backdrop of color right against the back edge of the fence, then the corner of the wild portion of our woods, to the right the tall yellow blossoms of the jerusalem artichoke, behind that the overgrown herb garden, blueberries, and the yellowing trees of the back woods. A whole lot going on in one picture!
The trees are dropping their leaves and bursts of brilliant color surprise us everywhere. The mosquitoes have finally left, the days are shirt sleeve warm, the nights are just cool enough to want to snuggle in deeper. What a beautiful time of year!
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