The most beautiful week of the year arrives at Sol Homestead when the tree outside the kitchen window turns yellow. When exactly that happens varies a bit from year to year, but this year it came on Monday, October 16th and its arrival was a welcome reprieve from caring for a sick preschooler. My mother also came to visit this week and I am thankful that she gets to see our little alpaca farm at its absolute best.
When that tree changes color, it coincides with the slight adjustment in the angle of the light with the turning of the seasons and the result is that the entire kitchen area of our home is filled with warm, golden light. I cannot stop looking out the window.
Once the tree outside the kitchen window turns, the other mature trees in our yard follow, amplifying the effect. Then, the leaves start to fall. I love the sound of the wind through those rustling leaves. The alpacas love to eat them. Fall leaves are like potato chips for alpacas. Devoid of real nutritional value, they are still yummy, and the crunchy texture's novelty means you cannot eat just one. As the leaves fall into piles in the pasture, Clementine just sits in them, chewing all day.
After the leaves have all fallen, the farm will go back to normal—which is great, don’t get me wrong—but I am enjoying this most gorgeous time in the season for as long as it lasts.
As far as the leaves go, the alpacas eat plenty of them, and the rest we leave where they fall. After a few blustery days, they will accumulate along the fencelines, providing needed cover for hibernating insects, such as bumble bees and squash bees, who build their nests underground. Sometimes I rake a layer of leaves over the pumpkin patch, but the wind usually makes the effort pointless. The leaves also help the soil retain nutrients and moisture over the winter, leading to improved soil quality come spring. Allegedly, leaving the leaves helps suppress weeds but that has not been my experience. I find the leaves beautiful to see and hear as they litter the lawn, but there are enough good reasons to leave the leaves that I am a big advocate for doing so. More on autumn garden cleanup (or not) in a future post, but for now, I’m going to go look at those trees some more.
What is your favorite week of the year?