MAGICAL SEPTEMBER HAS ARRIVED!

              "By all these lovely tokens, September days are here.
              With summer’s best of weather and autumn’s best of cheer.”
                                                                – Helen Hunt Jackson 

Magical September has arrived. She waltzes in with her cooler temperatures and autumn splendor.  

Let’s remember to:

• Admire September’s magical sunsets and the harvest moon.
• Enjoy the beauty of goldenrod along our roadways.
• Appreciate the last green leaves before Jack Frost hauls out his paint box.
• Take a few minutes to watch the rolling fog lift itself from the land.
• 
  Drink a glass of refreshing apple cider.
• Call a friend and grab lunch to share in the fall merriment.

If I were to ponder the summer of 2022 and all its finery, I’d have to admit we had a hot humid season
with temperatures rolling upward near ninety degrees many days. But a sizzling summer has its positive points. Hot summers are for taking a nap, or finding the perfect spot to relax and chill, or eating ice cream, or enjoying your favorite summer sport.

Central Pennsylvania received just enough rain to encourage every weed in our flowerbeds to flourish. I grew a horse weed plant taller than I am. I filled buckets with purslane, plantain, dandelion, dollar weed, quack grass and clover. Humid conditions during the day and hot muggy nights encouraged white mold on many plants’ leaves, but our ferns went crazy, loving the humidity. Ironically, my tomato plants were stubbornly lazy and didn’t produce as well as they had in other years.

But now, it’s time to watch September spin its magic as it blows a farewell kiss to August. Hummingbirds disappear. Acorns plummet to the earth with a plop. Milkweed pods burst open and send tiny seeds sailing into the air on fluffy floss. Pleasing scents fill the air: smoky fires, pumpkin pie, hot chocolate, cinnamon and nutmeg, roasts in the oven, and apple pie.

September is also jacket weather on cool nights. Dry leaves rustle beneath our feet; and overhead, geese honk a good-bye as they wing their way south. In many northern states, September delivers the first frost of the season and signals autumn is approaching.

Do you have a favorite sign of the upcoming season? Share it with others in the comments below. And watch out for those falling acorns!

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APPLES AND AUTUMN

Hello, Autumn! And here she comes with the wonderful fall harvest of foods and desserts. My favorites are pies. Although pumpkin is my favorite, my husband is a fan of apple. He is also the biggest fan of applesauce, and a jar sits in our refrigerator year ‘round.

Here in the Northeast, Johnny Appleseed Day is celebrated twice a year. On both March 11^th and September 26^th.  September 26, 1774, was actually the day when John Chapman or Johnny Appleseed was born. It coincides with the season of apple harvest. His date of death was not formally recorded, but it is believed he died on March 11, 1845, from the “winter plague.” History tells us that John Chapman was deeply religious person, often preaching during his many travels.

A nurseryman by trade, John Chapman initially started planting trees in New York and here in Pennsylvania. He was also know for going “West” to plant, but we must remember that “West” was Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. It is estimated that he traveled 10,000 square miles of frontier country. As he traveled, he sold apple trees and seeds to settlers and planted many trees and seeds himself along the way during a forty-year span. He also started a string of nurseries spreading from western Pennsylvania across Ohio and into Indiana. When he died in 1845, he owned 1,200 acres of land.

No matter what the legends tell us about John Chapman, one thing is certain. He brought about the recognition of the apple and its versatility whether eaten fresh, stewed, baked or fermented. The food list that includes the mighty apple is exhausting—applesauce, pie, cider, crisp, cake, pancakes, apple butter, juice, and even vinegar, to name a few. Early settlers dried apples to use on their trip to West as we know it today.

When I was growing up, we had apple trees around our farmhouse and MacIntosh was my favorite for taking in my school lunch bag. We also had apple trees in what we called “the old orchard” in a pasture on the edge of our farm. It was an orchard planted by early settlers of the 1800s (or before) and had heirloom varieties like Northern Spy, Strawberry, Baldwin, and Winesap. Our dairy cattle loved to scout the old orchard and look for any fallen ones for a delicious treat.

Are you a fan of apples? After an extremely rainy summer here in Central Pennsylvania, I’m excited about the arrival of a drier autumn and the rich scent of apples, sugar, and cinnamon baking in the oven or cooking on my stove top. 

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JUMPING THE GUN ON AUTUMN

Goldenrod

Today, while my husband mowed the lawn, I started trimming some of the plants and shrubs that look like they were dragged behind a fast moving car on a dirt road. I know I’m jumping the gun on my transitional plan of moving from summer to autumn this year, but our outdoor vegetation seemed to have reached its peak and gone over the proverbial edge.

Most of the leaves on the flowers are brittle and brown. The ferns are brown-tipped and tired-looking. The Black-eyed Susans have lost all their petals. And many other drooping flowers have gone to seed with the exception of goldenrod and asters that line the roads.

So when exactly is fall?  This year, it will be Monday, September 23^rd. The first day of fall lands on the Autumnal Equinox in the northern hemisphere and lasts until the Winter Solstice in December which starts on the 21^st —the shortest day of the year—and in the Northern Hemisphere, the darkest day. 

In the stores and landscape centers, mums, gourds, and pumpkins have popped up on displays. Pumpkin spiced coffee is in the cafes and donut shops, and apples are piled high in the supermarkets. Cider is now available.  The scents of cinnamon and nutmeg drift in the air.

 I have to admit, autumn is one of my favorite seasons. It brings cooler, crisp temperatures, colorful maples leaves, and a cozy feeling when you break out the homey fall foods. What is better than the smell of a roast with vegetables in the oven, pumpkin pies or cookies baking, or applesauce simmering on the stovetop? And who doesn’t like a cup of hot chocolate at night?

Are you a fan of fall? Or do you like another season better? 

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