pumpkin and flowers

There’s a feeling of fall afoot in the mountains of southern Appalachia. We’ve had a few mornings in the low 50s with pumpkins laying orange in the garden.

If I listen closely I can hear a whisper of things to come: falling leaves rustling around my feet as I walk to Granny’s, the clang of the woodstove door as someone chunks the fire, the faint fog on the kitchen windows as I cook supper, crisp blue skies, the prettiest red maple leaves that carpet Granny’s yard, sweaters, boots, and the sparkle of frost down through the holler.

Summer’s high temperatures aren’t gone for good, there’ll still be hot days ahead between now and fall of the year, but there are certainly signs that change is happening. I believe we each have a gage that tells us about nature and its changes if we will but listen. It seems the more you listen the more you hear, so it’s never too late to start the practice of noticing the earth around us.

Bees and bugs hear the change clearly. They are scurrying around in a mad dash trying to do all they can before cold weather arrives.


Last night’s video: Putting up Cushaw Squash in Appalachia


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21 Comments

  1. Your description of early fall is Great . Growing up in the 40’s& 50’s in SW Ohio fall was school starting, a fire in the fireplace, blankets smelling of the cedar chest & warm red knit pj’s coming out for the younger kids.
    Fall was certainly Mom’s squirrel pie made after Dad’s hunting on the first day of the season. (He & a friend managed to do that together for around 60 years).
    Our Maples were almost too pretty to seem real in October. The one that was the reddest has finally died this year but not before my great grandchildren played in those glorious leaves a few years ago.

  2. Tipper, I love the descriptive language you use to paint a picture of the coming fall. Love the pic of little Chitter and Chatter in their costumes. When I first became a subscriber, I confess I had a hard time telling them apart. Now, as they stand there, their personalities and attitudes stand out to me. They don’t have to speak, sing or pick up an instrument

  3. I thought I heard geese flying overhead about 2 weeks ago – awful early for them to be transversing the Central Texas skies – never did catch a glimpse of them in the brightly hazy skies but heard them loud and clear. Other than that, signs of fall are yet to come. Although it has been dry lately I’m hoping our wet spring and early summer will me a colorful blanket for fall.

  4. It is a wonderful thing to be in tune with nature. You have just given the best description of Fall I have ever been privileged to read. The four seasons are such a gift from our creator. Never boring! Just about the time you are tired of using mosquito repellant and your garden looks sad here comes the splendor of Fall colors. The smells are so different as you begin to smell the smoke from chimneys and dried leaves. I painstakingly pick off cabbage worms and garden pests until finally the cool nights kill off the pests and allow the kale and mustard to thrive.

  5. Here in SC PA, warm weather is trying to hang on and I am thankful for the warm breeze and sunshine but it has started to cool down at night. I always enjoyed fall and still do – just not crazy about winter:} You painted a pretty picture of the change in your area and I see some of it starting here too.

  6. Fall and the month of October are my favorites. A lot of good things for me happen in October, my son and a grandson’s birthday and my wedding anniversary. It would have been 47 years this year. Like AWGEIFF I always looked forward to November and Thanksgiving, bird season(quail) and rabbit season open on Thanksgiving day in SC. I no longer hunt either one and no longer have any dogs. In SC it is now all about deer and turkey. It has been years since I have seen anyone hunting WILD quail or heard a pack of beagles.

  7. The humming birds are amazing weather predictors. They appear to become more active at the feeders around the first of September as they prepare for their long trip to Central America. The falling persimmons and walnuts on the road is another sign that a change is coming. Fall fishing is the only good thing about the next few months.

  8. Was just looking at the Almanac and read the following, don’t think I’ve ever heard of this before.
    “Ember Days occur next on September 15, 17, 18.
    Folklore has it that the weather on each of the three days foretells the weather for three successive months. “

  9. I love September. It is the month I went to college many years ago….made life long pals….got married. It’s football time, with our tailgate parties ..still fun even with distancing and masks.
    My daddy once told me he could not really enjoy the colors of our fall because he was being reminded of the cold cold winter to come. He had black lung and ever breath was hard. I remember that each fall.

  10. You PERFECTLY and ELOQUENTLY described autumn in my mind’s eye. You just say things so beautifully I can’t add a thing to perfection!!! God bless y’all this fall and let’s have a ball as we live through some weird times for certain!!!

  11. Here in Indiana the walnut trees are beginning to shed their leaves. They are usually the first ones on our property to do so. Pawpaws are ripe, and persimmons are plump. Birds that visit our many feeders are changing as well.

    1. Hey, Brad! Don Byers here at Blairsville GA….Would like to hear from you and see where you fit in my family history. My email is byersdon@hotmail.com . Cell#770-402-4902. Thanks! Am descended from Samuel Byers and Margaret Handley who came to W NC about 1790 from York, SC. Thanks!

  12. I think that Nov. is my least favorite month of fall. The cold rains of Nov. make the trees naked and it takes me awhile to get used to that. November used to be my favorite month for grouse season came in then. Dad and I hunted grouse for 40 years plus. Dad died in 2011 and I no longer grouse hunt, have no dog and these e.ky. hills have grown much steeper.

  13. Here in NE Ohio, it’s still pretty warm for September. But, I’ve smelled Fall in the morning when I put the dog out. And, just last week, I started to hear the wind in the trees again…after having been absent during the dog days of summer. That always tells me change is indeed afoot!

  14. Large group of geese honking and flying by the house at dawn and dusk this week. The grasshoppers are too numerous to count when I walk through the pasture. Yes the need for flannel shirts when going outside in the mornings has returned. I fear your observation is correct cold weather is near.

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