Squirreling

It's that time of year again.  Time seems to rush by sometimes.  The first hard freeze of the fall was this past week.  We lucked out that it came so late (for us) since the growing season seemed to be rather late, too.  But now the garden is officially dead and done.  It's time to pull out the plants and put away the hoses.  

Then we start raking the leaves.  We have a LOT of leaves around our place.  Every year I waffle between waiting a little longer for more to fall and starting earlier to get them off the lawn.  I end up somewhere in between.  This is what I got done yesterday...

and this is what's left on the cottonwood.  Sigh...  
Many of the leaves go into the compost bins.  Many more make a thick layer on the garden beds to be added to the compost in the spring.  



It's time to prune back all those lavender bushes.  And chip the dried cornstalks, raspberry canes and those lavender clippings into the compost, too.  

The burn pile went up in flames.  A load of wood is coming soon and the energy logs are stacked in the basement.  This is a busy time of year;  the last flurry before the real flurries start.  

But there are still a few lovely surprises even among the dead leaves.










I like getting things ready for winter, packed up and put away, whether it's garden or wood or food in the freezer.  I call it "squirreling."  It's a satisfying feeling.