It is a misty morning, this October 24th.

From my window I can see a blanket of fog resting on the far pasture. I can hear the sheep bleeting, the crows, and the kittens running up and down our wooden stairs.

The colours of Autumn are muted in my front garden. The lavendar which was such a brilliant purple when it first flowered, is now looking dusty or dirty. The mighty potato stalks are leaning away from each other like fallen dominoes. My tangle of tomato plants huddle together, as if to bury their last tomatoes still blushing on the vines.

A second round of spinach is sporting their broad green leaves as if defying the first frost. My basil tree is dramatic and has completely succumbed to the colder temperatures. The stalks are blackened but the leaves are harvested and lay in the freezer.

We still have peas and beans coming. We have collected radish seeds that I’m hoping to use for sprouting in the winter months to give me some much needed clorofil.

Tomatoes are something I’ve taken for granted this summer. They are drawing to an end and the thought of eating one of those anemic store tomatoes withers my little heart. They have been ripening since July. The first one was celebrated with such gusto and yesterday when I picked them, I did not find them lipstick red as I have in the past. They are pale and some are cracking. We have dehydrated quite a few bags and made sauce for freezing but it won’t be the same as plucking a fresh tomato for your sandwich.

Another thing about winter is that I miss my bees. Today I plan to take the syrup buckets out of the hives, remove any supers that are empty, sprinkle dry sugar in case their stores are not enough, and batten down the hatches. I close them up and do not see them again until March. All through the winter, I worry about if they are alive, if they are warm enough, if they will survive the winter. I put my ear to the boxes to try to hear a whisper of activity. But until Spring, I do not know if they’ve made it through. Any diseases they have in small doses now can severely affect them as they are put under more stress of colder temperatures. Mice often add to the problem as well. They are looking for a cozy place to hole up for the winter, they end up chewing their way into the hive and eating the honey. If a hive isn’t strong enough, or it is too cold for them to move, that mouse could be fatal.

Last Winter I worried about my bees throughe every frost, every snowflake and they did just fine. They are going into this winter with more stores and more bees. My new hives are also going into winter better than the hive I over-wintered last year, so I’m feeling pretty positive about their chances.

And as for the kittens, they get spayed on Monday. I’ve been telling them all about it so it shouldn’t be any surprise.