The cooler air energizes. The late summer haze has cleared. Suddenly the long list of garden chores has completely changed from building to undoing. I unravel what I have worked since early spring to build. I should be sad but it’s oddly satisfying. The smells have changed to the sweet scent of decay. I wear long sleeves now. The weather report predicts dropping temps overnight. Somethings will succumb, some can handle a bit of frost, then there’s the third group, the ones I can save. Today it’s those I concentrate on. I dig up the rosemary I planted in spring. I pull in the Christmas cactus and clivia that have spent the summer outside. I repot them with fresh soil and water them well. I find my collection of chipped floral plates I use to put the terracotta pots on. Slowly the window sills fill up with greenery.

I get the wheelbarrow and roll back into the garden. I pick all the pumpkins and winter squash. I pause wishing I had a camera to capture the full load in yellow, orange, green, and even blue. These go onto the window sill too tucked in around the plants, on the coffee table, and in a basket on the kitchen counter.

Out again, this time armed with my pruners and basket. I wind my way around the garden harvesting tender herbs, a patch of dill here, a some basil there, and some mint and sage too. I sit in a sunny spot, no longer needing the shade for comfort and tie the herbs into bundles. Back in the house, I hang the bunches in the rafters on nails put there for this purpose. The atmosphere has changed. The scent of herbs fills the room. The colors add warmth.

I take one more trip out to the garden carrying the old metal colander I use to collect vegetables. The sun has already begun its decline. I pick the last tomatoes from the vine where most of the leaves have gone brown. I start filling the colander. I add what’s left of the green peppers some even tinged red, rare in my northern garden. I top it off with some onions drying in the shed. With the bounty balancing on my hip, I head back to the kitchen to make soup for dinner.

~Kat, September 21,2023