It seems I’ve always been attuned to the changing of the seasons. (At least as far back as I can remember.) Maybe it’s because I’m a country boy who’s had the privilege of observing the miracle of the seed and the soil and the sun. Or maybe it’s because I’ve witnessed and felt the rhythm of life with its ebb and flow over many years.
I’m especially attuned to the coming of fall. The rains of late summer have thrown things off a bit this year. I can hardly remember pastures being so green this time of year. Usually, by now, the sound of late summer winds in the trees has begun to change. Drying leaves make the wind whisper a different tune – not so this year.
I did see a gathering of birds a few days back. I had to smile. It’s hard to fool old eyes.
And so, the last days of summer will soon be upon us. Not that I’m trying to hasten summer’s departure – just looking ahead.
Augusts of my past saw the tobacco harvest in full swing. Days of bundles of tobacco sticks brought out of retirement, tobacco knives and spikes having the rust knocked off, and certain muscles, not used all year, made to ache like nobody’s business. It was all a part of late summers I used to know.
And you looked forward to the smell of curing tobacco as it turned golden in the barns, and tobacco patches turning green with a cover of winter rye.
Late summer meant corn would soon be giving up its green and taking on a color of fall unmatched by leaf or blade.
I remember when my father included field peas and pumpkin seeds with the corn seed he planted in the “spring bottom.” It yielded a late summer to remember. We shelled purple hulls and hauled out pumpkins “till the cows came home.”
Speaking of field peas, I heard this story, to be true, once upon a time. Seems this family had fallen on hard times, and late one summer, all they had to eat was field peas. The boy, a member of the aforementioned family who told the story, said he became sick of eating field peas – “field peas for breakfast, field peas for dinner, and field peas for supper.” He was even taking a pint jar of field peas to school for his lunch.
He was so sick of field peas he decided to steal someone else’s lunch. When he arrived at school that day, he placed his lunch pail on the bench in the cloakroom with all the others. Then, he picked up each lunch pail until he found one that was particularly heavy. This one had to be the one! So, he swapped lunch pails.
When lunch time came, he grabbed “his” lunch pail and headed for the tree line that bordered the school property. When he opened the lunch pail, he found three green walnuts and a claw hammer! There’s a lesson in this story.
There are also lessons to be found in the changing of the seasons. “Everything changes. Nothing stays the same.” “Here today, gone tomorrow.” “Make hay while the sun shines.” “For the time comes when no man can work.” “Summer and winter and springtime and harvest sun, moon and stars in their courses above.”
Summer’s labors will soon be laid aside. Don’t let the harvest take you by surprise.
Copyright 2023 by Jack McCall
