Winding Up Summer

When you learn to read nature, you become attuned to the signals when seasons are changing, and many of those signals for the shift into autumn are coming early on the farm. The wild asters began blooming in late July, the geese are forming in Vs and heading south along with the swans, most of the adult hummingbirds have already left, and the old sugar maples in the barnyard are turning golden orange at their tops.

I’ve noticed that the color and angle of the morning light feels like September—how it comes in the windows differently, how noticeably shorter the days are already becoming. What once was a chore-time evening dimness at 10:30pm is now 8:30, and many nights have grown chilly. Time to watch for the September frost? Time to prepare for the changes?

If there’s any certainty on a farm, it is that change is coming. Each season lasts only so long, crops must be planted, tended, and harvested, and animals have their renewing cycles of life. And while autumn is my favorite time of year, and I glory in its crisp, refreshing air, it also means letting the long days of summer go. No matter how much yearning or clutching I attempt, I cannot force summer to stay. Better to let it go and embrace what is coming next.

The arrival of autumn also means the approach of our fall lambing season (the planned one, not the string of oopsies that kept us up at night lambing in July and August), which is a rigorous, demanding, long month of deliveries and baby care. There is no way to uphold a summer schedule and keep up with the strain of our full-scale lambing process, where it is not uncommon to midwife three or more deliveries a day.

That means we’re looking at three more weekends of our adapted summer plans at Farmstead, with our Friday dinner, Saturday wood-fired pizza, and Sunday breakfast to-go offerings. It certainly has been a change of pace switching from in-house dining to curbside pickup in the face of COVID-19, but our dedication to keeping you, our family, and the livestock safe has been unwavering since early March. Yes, we’ve missed the nights of music and laughter, but we want all of us to be alive for the day when we can safely gather and share in vibrant cultural experiences once more.

Now, across-the-pollinator-garden masked chats have become a new sort of Farmstead staple, sharing stories and checking in on one another. It’s been more than once that I’ve had a gut feeling about something being of concern about a friend or patron, calling or messaging them to find that they really just needed a friendly ear to help them face their difficult situation. Whether it was a health crisis, the loss of a loved one, anticipated evacuation because of forest fires, or preparing to give birth during a pandemic, I’ve found that so many of the people we know and touch are facing so much.

That’s why it is still so important to connect, as best we can, over the little things. I think of the love we pack into each dinner or artisan pizza or Bismark crepe that is pre-ordered and picked up in front of Farmstead. I think about that loving energy and nutritious goodness that goes home with those families. I hope that it helps them to feel loved and nourished through these difficult times. I hope the short but meaningful conversations we get to share at the edge of the flower garden with the hummingbird children flitting about also brings them a moment of sanity and peace in the turmoil.

Seasonal transition points help us see what is coming as well as what is ending. Summer this year has been both glorious and difficult for us all. As it winds is way to a close, my wish for us all is that we can find the goodness in what lies ahead and remember that we all do better when we all do better. Flourishing is mutual. Fear closes our perspective, our ability to see options forward. On the other hand, lovingkindness opens our perspective, helping us understand that what might seem difficult now is actually liberating in the long run.

And so, if you were still hoping to make it out to Farmstead to pick up one of our summertime to-go offerings, don’t wait too much longer. Lambing and autumn will be here before we know it, and the last vestiges of summertime will have slipped away. The best way to order is via our new e-store in the Farmstead To-Go section at www.northstarhomestead.com/NSHF

What are special ways that you mark the closing of summertime? One more barbecue on the deck? One more dip in the lake? One more round of making hay? (That one’s in our future soon!) Whatever is your chosen activity, I hope you take a moment to soak in the peace and the goodness that is still pulsing through nature all around us. The birds still sing to the morning sun, the frogs take up the chorus in the evening, and the cycles continue—steadfast and true. See you down on the farm sometime.