Planting.  Fall is such a wonderful time to work outside with cooler days and amazing autumn colors. It’s time to take out plants that need to be moved or replaced and bring in those new plants, trees, bushes, etc that will make wonderful additions to the farm.  With the help of Tiger Cub Scouts we just planted 2 pear, 2 peach and 2 apple trees.  For the record, Penny, our black lab did not pull her weight in planting the trees but she did a great job of supervising.  We are also adding some Elderberry bushes to our landscape.  We can’t wait to try some Elderberry wine in a couple years.  Now I need to make some time to add some much needed mulch and clean up areas that were neglected during the busy vineyard season.

Planning.  It is no secret that I love making lists.  Sometimes I need a list to manage my many lists which makes me even more excited.  We plan out our fall and winter projects for the animals, fencing, tree trimming, tractor work, building, and the nastier and more time consuming things we’ve just simply put off for later.  This is also the time of year I can sit for hours and plan my garden beds.  I love the Mother Earth News Garden Planner.  I can arrange and rearrange my plantings and then print out seed order lists from the garden planner.  It also helps me keep track of where each variety was previously planted, what should rotate with what and even helps guide me on the approximate time each plant will be ready for harvest.  That is my free public service announcement for a great online tool.

Playing.  Terry and I use the fall to spend time traveling and relaxing a tad bit more than we do throughout the rest of the year.  Vineyard season is over, tax season is finally over and we are ready to play.  Time to visit the mountains, spend some evenings having dinner with friends and maybe even sneaking in a date night or two.  It’s the perfect time of year to make an outdoor fire in the fire pit and sit back with a glass of wine and watch the sunset.

Farm life is our perfect life.  Maybe there is a fourth P for fall.