Embracing Fall

The stakes are out of the ground and ready for storage.

Day 230
The Daily DuBrule

Sunday I cleaned up the tomato garden. I removed all the plants, took down all the stakes and cut off the old twine. I stacked them across the raised beds to dry out. I removed the cages and stored them in the garage. I found a few arugula plants, some mustard seedlings, and lots of Calendulas and borage still blooming. These I left.

The morning glories are still blooming behind the pumpkins.

It is a bittersweet time of year for me. I have to say that I fight the blues in October. I am sure it is S.A.D., seasonal affect disorder, where the shortening of the days and the reduction in the intensity of the light causes a mild depression. It has happened to me enough years in a row for me to at least, at this point, be conscious of it and not freak out. I did a bit of research on line to see if this is common with people who garden for a living. It didn't take long for me to see there is most certainly a connection. No wonder we have chosen gardening as our life's work. We are outdoors during the sunniest months of the year!

Even the Asclepias seedpods are really pretty now

My husband also knows that this happens to me and he has been really supportive. The other day, when I hit the wall (probably due to too many days of rain) he gave me some very sage words of advice: try to embrace the season. Decorate with pumpkins. Light a fire in the fireplace. Light some of your scented candles. Try to see the beauty in the natural world in this, it's natural life cycle. At first I was, like, "yeah yeah yeah I know all that", rolling my eyes. But then I decided to take his advice to heart and take action. I brought home all kinds of really fun pumpkins and gourds and decorated the courtyard and my front porch. I tried to stay totally in the moment on Sunday when I was cleaning up the garden, looking for the beauty despite the greyness of the day. The birds were happy enough, munching on the seedpods I had left up. The berries were glowing red and orange.

  

My goodness, look at all the roses blooming! There really was color everywhere I looked. The leaves were turning wonderful colors.

The purple smokebush flowers are turning red

I am promising myself to work outdoors every single day that it isn't pouring rain or snowing. If the sun is shining, I'm there. I can prune, clear brush, gather kindling, cut the garden back- there's plenty to do. If not, I will take a walk and soak up the sun. I am thinking of getting the special lights for my office at home to help with this syndrome. But, so far, lots of vigorous exercise and being outdoors has helped a lot.