Early last week I left a warm and balmy Sonoma for a week in Austin, Texas to attend the wedding of one of my best friends. When I returned to Sonoma I felt like I had been gone from the valley for months, returning to the depths of wine country winter. My house was so cold I had to turn on the heat, which took awhile because I didn’t remember how to adjust the thermostat, it’s been so long since we have needed to use the furnace.
The next day I awoke to a weather report that included a frost advisory for Tuesday night. It seemed so early for a frost, considering last year frost never showed up until December. So with a threat of frost looming I ignored my travel fatigue and desire to stay wrapped up in my cozy bed and I got up. I headed to the farm and harvested the last of the pumpkins, gourds, and whatever green tomatoes I could find.
The farm seemed so different since I was last there. The soil was plump and sticky from a recent rain. Many of the trees surrounding the field have lost their leaves. The once tall cornstalks now are bent and hang close to the ground.
Seeing all this is a reminder that the 2015 growing season is coming to an end and the field is getting ready for its winter nap.
Your season is changing a little early, based on my Two Rock experience. There is a lovely, crispness to the change, the smell of autumn and the break for both the farmer and the land. Have a lovely winter–they say, for a change, that you’ll be enjoying enough rain.