What a month of contradictions October is. My breath drifted ahead of me on my morning stroll to let the chickens out and I left a trail of smudged footprints in the heavy dew on the lawn.
Yet by mid afternoon the sun was strong enough to have me stripped to a t-shirt, sweating over several barrows of acrid chicken-shitty straw and squinting at the bright sun. The solar panel has belted out a tank full of hot water and I’ve had to water the nursery again. Oh for rain, any rain. We’ve had none for nearly a month.
The day ended with a crimson sun setting behind the trees and a golden moon rising in simultaneous opposition. The eerily still air was rich with wood smoke mingling with the warm sweet toffee apple scent from the Katsura Tree. It was nearly dark by 6.30 and the temperature plumetted as quickly as the setting sun. October is the month of Libra and the year is at the point of balance. Just one frost will tip it over.
The grass under the apple trees is polka-dotted with Saturnine rings of plump amber and ruby spots as the Egrement Russet and Spartans shed their crop each night – it’s as pretty as spring blossom. I leave the pocked fruit for the chickens and blackbirds and collect the best of them as we need them. I know we’ll never use them all and I won’t be able to keep them against the frost and mice either. So we use them as we go along and give the surplus away. If you happen to wander along the Trent and Mersey Canal about a mile south of Preston Junction tunnel in the next few weeks then do stuff a carrier bag in your pocket – you might strike lucky.
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