Midwest Fall Breathes its Last

The wind has picked up, the last breath of Fall sending leaves showering down and skittering along the pavement.

They lay piled thickly on rooftops and on the abandoned truck across the street. They clog gutters and gather at bases of bushes and trees. Eerily, they hang among the wispy remnants of Halloween cobweb.

Under the crisp blue sky, the whine of leaf blowers rings through the air, making the gentle rustle of our old-fashioned rakes sound more like a whisper than work. We are being shushed.

I laugh as the kids swing high and leap into space, plummeting into an enormous pile of crackling brown. They giggle as they crawl among the ladybugs, leaves stuck in hair and hoods and caught in fleece.

We tidy up after nature's clutter, cutting back summer's bounteous growth, now simultaneously overgrown and skeletal. Bringing order to chaos is a satisfying venture.

The birds are gone. And I feel the need to fill a feeder for the few stragglers who remain. The outdoors is muffled and smells of mold and dampness. There are no bees, only worms thriving on decay.

We witness as the colors of Autumn become the shivering nakedness of winter.



- Midwest Mom

Celebrating New Friends and Old

I have two new spotlight pieces on BlogCatalog to tell you about. One I wrote last week, called the Autumn Mosaic. It is a celebration the season and my discovery of several new bloggers who are writing about Fall in their hometowns. It was such fun to write about my favorite aspects of Autumn -- I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

The other I just posted today, about a great blog I've known for a while -- Little Four Eyes. AnnZ created Little Four Eyes after her daughter (at age one) needed glasses. She has done what so many of us really hope to achieve with our blog -- that is, create a community of involved parents. She regularly invites families to write about their own experiences with their child's diagnosis and glasses and hosts kids activities and photo gallery to boot. So, if you get a chance (and want to learn something about positive blogging and creating an interactive community) head on over. AnnZ's door is always open.

And to my regular readers, if you don't already have your blog listed on BlogCatalog, you're missing out on the chance to meet and learn from some terrific, well-established bloggers. Joining is free and provides a boost in getting your articles indexed and searchable. (Besides, I can't feature you if you're not a member... so get on over there!)

- Midwest Mom

Signs of Fall

We had our first autumn hike yesterday. It was a relief to get outdoors under blue skies, especially since we've been virtually home-bound for a week. My oldest and youngest have been ill, so we stayed in out of the cold as much as possible to let them recover.

My six-year-old has been healthy as a horse, though. Spending time with him alone has been wonderful. During this first week of vacation, my husband and I took time to appreciate him in a special way. Since he's our middle child, he doesn't often get the chance to really just have Mom and Dad to himself. But two sickie siblings on the couch made it easy to grab some time alone with just him.

So, over the course of the past few days, little by little, he has learned to ride his two-wheeler all by himself!


We are so proud of him, but not more proud than he is of himself!

After a week in bed, his siblings were finally able to get out a bit last night. So, we went to our favorite county park for a late-afternoon hike.

It was still a little early for much orange and red -- except to show us the plants we need to avoid!


But there was plenty of golden light filtering through the trees.


We hiked the river bluff trail, and the views were wonderful.


Fortunately for my daughter, fall asters, goldenrod, and queen Anne's lace were still in supply. The perfect combination for flower-picking.


It was the kind of early fall day I will always want to remember.


- Midwest Mom

Salad Days

I'm always a bit torn during late summer. My mind knows that my plants are done growing, and that they are spending their last bits of strength to produce fruit, filled with seeds that are their next generation. I've nurtured them for months, so as I garden, the prevailing feeling is bittersweet.

My family, however, has no sympathy for my garden's last days. All they care about is our table full of freshly-picked vegetables. My daughter greedily gobbles a handful of tiny yellow cherry tomatoes. My husband will eat as many red peppers as I can pick. My sons barely let me wash the dirt from our garden carrots before crunching them like little vegetable-eating monsters.

And then there is me. I am overcome by the heaping bowls of colorful salad -- by the herbs, pungent and plentiful. I put out of my mind thoughts of my withering plants, their leaves turning to yellow and brown from the chill of autumn. My eyes drink in the green and red and orange of fresh produce. I think of the purple eggplants still to come, and the pumpkins and squash almost ready to come out of our neighbor's garden.

Hard to admit, but my mouth starts to water. And just as an apt garden eulogy comes to mind, I hear my own voice utter, as if from a distance, "Please...


"...pass the dressing."

- Midwest Mom

Going Green: Getting the Garden Ready for Winter

Autumn is a second spring,
when every leaf is in flower.

- Albert Camus

I have been out today enjoying the last of our Autumn color. The moderate temperatures and gentle rainfall have given us the gift of fantastic foliage this year. It has been a rare thing, reminding me of my young autumns in New Hampshire, where my heart would nearly burst as my eyes drank in the vibrant colors. Falling leaves made life there seem like slow motion until the first snow at Veterans day. Then nature would finally allow life to catch up. In the bi-color dank of winter, my eyes would long for October's yellow-ochre and November's fiery orange. My memory of that time and those colors stays with me here in the heartland. This was the first year that nearly approached that breathless beauty. I hate to see it fade.

But the skies have been grey lately, and fall's crisp blue has been replaced by drizzle. The yellows and reds are changing to gold and brown. My mind and heart are reminding me to get out into the garden. There is work to be done, and it won't do itself.

I will admit, I have spent the past month and a half just taking produce from the garden without doing a whole lot of chores. We grew squash and pumpkins -- well, you could hardly call them pumpkins, more like munchkins. We grew those little pumpkin-shaped gourds small enough to fit in my three-year-old daughter's hands. They make great decorations and were so easy. I let the children plant them from seed, water them when they remembered to, and harvest them. It was quite a success.

We've had a few frosty mornings, so the last of the tomatoes have come in. I spent the morning pulling up the plants and raking leaves into the perennial beds to protect the gems I want to survive the cold. Now is the time of year when all gardeners put our plants to bed for the Winter. We tuck them in tenderly and hope they survive until Spring. I always use leaves as the "blanket of choice" for my garden. To me, there is no reason to pay for mulch from a garden center when nature gives an abundant supply of the best mulch there is.

It always makes me laugh to see the lengths people go to to get rid of their leaves, too. In my mind, the only way to collect leaves is with a rake and a tarp, to be dumped on the compost or swept into a flower bed. Of course, that should happen only after you've given the children 57 rides around the yard on the leaf-covered tarp and let them bury you until you emerge as the leaf monster. It isn't autumn if you don't do those things.

But, back to the garden... today I used my head a bit. Autumn is the perfect time to think about what worked in your garden and what didn't. I tried some new placements for tomato plants, beans, and melons. They didn't pan out so well. Lesson learned. I also had terrific success with my roses and clematis (on a beautiful arbor that my husband built for me.) Now is the time to guarantee those successes for next year.

To winterize my roses, I started by building wire cages around them. I used chicken wire or old fencing wire, staked well away from the plant itself. I kept the wire 6-8 inches from the base of the rosebush. I then placed about 5 inches of peat moss at the base of each plant, making sure that it covered the place where the lowest branches emerge.

Then I used nature's autumn gift, those beautiful leaves, to loosely insulate around the plants. Giving your roses a gentle covering of leaves will help prevent die-back during the cold of winter. It will also help keep them from drying out as the wind gets more bitter and dry.

When the weather gets warm enough in the Spring, it will be easy to take down the fencing and gently remove the leaves before they start to break down too much. At that point, you can prune off any dead portions and shape the rosebush. The acid of the peat moss will feed your roses through the winter and early Spring. It can be worked into the soil when temperatures get warmer.

Remember, as the autumn gets colder and loses its color, that the work you put in now to cover your perennials and to cover beds that hold your Spring bulbs will be worth it. As you remove the mulched leaves at Winter's end, you will see tender shoots already sprouting beneath their leaf blanket.

Until then, tuck your gardens in tight and remember the beauty of the Fall. I hope you have enjoyed this garden season just as much as I have.

Spring is not as far-off as you imagine.

- Midwest Mom

Going Green: Today, I Moved A Mountain!

Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to get out in the garden and get the job done this week. We've had terrific weather, and I've gotten quite a bit done!

My children begin their fall break today and are off for three weeks. So, now that we are finally lighter on the schedule (the boys' teachers have run me ragged lately!) I can spend a little time each day getting the garden chores done one by one.

I started three days ago with the toughest job of all: ridding my front garden of a certain ground cover called "Snow on the Mountain".

In the Spring, Snow on the Mountain is one of the first foliage plants to fill out. It has variegated leaves of pale green and white that make a beautiful mound wherever it is growing. Delicate white flowers grow on tall, slender stalks that poke up out of the mountain of leaves (thus, "snow" on the mountain!)

However, in the heat of Summer, the leaves brown horribly and the matted root-mass of this ground cover spreads into parts of the garden you never intended it to be. Now that Fall is here, sprouts of the stuff are coming up in and around almost all of my shrubs.

To remove this garden-hydra, I have had to use a spade to dig up the top 3-4 inches of soil throughout my garden and sift out the bean-sprout-like roots. In some places, they were thickly interwoven enough that the top layer of dirt came up like a carpet.

After three days of intermittent work, I think I finally got the last of it this morning.

Hallelujah!

Now comes the task of making sure the roots of the remaining shrubs are well-cared for. I will mix peat into the soil and start watering and feeding them to prepare for the cold weather. In the process, I may even put in some tulip and crocus bulbs to brighten our Spring.

- Midwest Mom

Overwhelmed By The Schedule

Do you ever have those times when you feel like "the schedule" is in charge of you instead of the other way around? Lately, I have been going crazy with work. There are fall chores to get done in the house and garden, school activities to coordinate, volunteer commitments to keep, soccer practices, dance classes, religion classes, and tomorrow is my daughter's third birthday.

I need a vacation.

I find myself daydreaming about sleeping late or playing hookie from activities. I mean, why can't I just be the irresponsible one for a change? But then a friend in crisis calls me, and on top of everything else I am doing, I have to run to the rescue. At 10 p.m. some days, I am still folding laundry.

(Did I mention that I need a vacation?)

What about a facial? Or a weekend away, just by myself? Could that be possible? What about a solo shopping trip? (and no, I don't mean shopping for groceries!)

So, short of drinking myself into oblivion or running away, what are my options? When will the weight of "the schedule" be off my shoulders? (I'm sure those of you with older children are chuckling and saying, "umm, not for a long long time.")

Maybe I'm just missing the carefree simplicity of Summer. I love the natural feel of our summer schedule, and it always seemed like we fit a lot into each summer day. The difference is that I was the one deciding, along with my children, what kind of fun we would have together. Now that everything is school and activities, other people get to tell me when to be where and how long to stay. I hate that.

Maybe I just need an attitude adjustment. I need to get in the fall mindset. So, what do I love about fall?

• I love the cool feel that clean sheets have when you get into bed. I even like the winter feeling of cold, where you need a couple minutes for the bed to "warm up".
• I love the bright blue of the sky, especially when the sugar maples across the street are in full color -- yellows, oranges, reds.
• I love the smell of fallen leaves and even the little brown roly-poly bugs that live in them if you let them lay on the lawn for too long.
• I love fall foods -- soups and stews and pumpkin pie. The best comfort food in the world is cooked in our house during this season. Apples and cider are favorites. And hot potato soup. Just the thought of it makes my mouth water.
• My hair finally looks good in the fall. I have such humidity hair, but this time of year, it gets smooth and shiny -- like a Pantene commercial. I love it.

Well, that does it. I guess the power of positive mental attitude is proven again. I actually do feel a little bit better.

And maybe I'll take the whole day tomorrow to just spend with my daughter. No chores or work or distractions -- just us.

Yep. That'll do the trick.

- Midwest Mom