The Backyard Science group regularly publishes The Daily Bucket, which features observations of the world around us. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds, flowers, anything natural or unusual, and PHOTOS are worthy additions to the Bucket and its comments. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note you write helps us understand the patterns that are unwinding around us.
When my daughter came into the kitchen a couple of days ago and caught the scent of an herbally, simmering chicken stock mingling with the smells of apple sauce and cinnamon she said, "It must be fall." I was definitely in my annual autumn mode, also busy turning last year's apple and pear sauces into leather and baking cookies made with left over roasted pumpkin from the night before.
Yesterday my son said that the northwest weather was acting bipolar. We had ominous, dark clouds and buckets of rain one minute, and then bright sun and vivid blue skies the next. I contemplated the sky, trying to make the best decision about hanging out any laundry. I opted not to, which turned out for the best--and it feels off somehow to be line drying clothes in October.
And while my kitchen is now often full of the signs of the season, my backyard and garden are sending mixed signals.
The unseasonably warm temperatures accompanied by more moisture not only from rain, but also dew and heavy fog have added to the confusion. The trees are responding to the shorter days by dropping leaves, but only those that have turned. The large maple next to the garage is hanging on to about half its leaves which are still green and pretty healthy looking.
The dropping leaves and maple seeds, the appearance of mushrooms, and the ever earlier sunsets connfirm that it is, indeed, fall:
But the sprouting of peas and beans that I missed in the harvest suggest spring. In the case of the beans, early summer:
Cilantro and parsley are sprouting up, too:
I welcome the new herb plants and have made good use of them, but the first time we have real, Octoberish, nighttime temperatures, they will disappear along with the peas and beans, which will never reach maturity.
Common sense says make the most of the unseasonable warmth, but my internal clock says it's time to hunker down for winds and rain, gather a supply of good books and enjoy pots of soups and teas made with what I reaped from this year's garden. Here in the PNW it's almost sacrilegious to look askance at warm, sunny days, but we need to not be afraid to talk about the weather when these days seem out of place.
Now It's Your Turn: Please post your own observations about the world around you and your general location in the comments.
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" will be posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm and Wednesday at 3:30 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.