Golden October Days

Golden Days

St. Luke's Little Summer

Lovely, summerlike days that occur around October 18 are called St. Luke's Little Summer in honor of the saint's feast day. In olden days, St. Luke's Day did not receive as much attention in the secular world as St. John's Day (June 24) and Michaelmas (September 29), so to keep from being forgotten, St. Luke presented us with some golden days to cherish before the coming of winter, or so the story goes. Some folks call this Indian Summer, but that officially occurs between November 11 and November 20.

From the Old Farmer's Almanac at www.almanac.com.

Hill top tree tops glow in the morning sun,

I woke to an owl hooting in the woods outside my bedroom window.  It was seven o'clock and I was surprised to hear him so late in the morning. By 7:30 I stepped out of the mudroom door on my way to feed calves and chickens and was treated to one of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen all year.  The eastern sky was painted in shades of pink and gold and the whole landscape glowed.  By the time I'd finished my chores the sky had changed to a soft glowing gold and the sun, though not yet breaking the horizon was arcing light across the sky to touch the tops of the maple trees and set them on fire with light.


The opposite hill. This woods is oak, maple and hickory.  The understory of Korean honeysuckle gets no light.

My brother has been out in the woods digging up maple seedlings to transplant  along his pasture fence lines.  He has no animals at present so no one (except deer) are likely to chomp on the trees. This is a very good time of year to transplant maples and most other hardwood trees. They will  stay dormant over the winter then awake in place for the spring and hardly know they were moved. It's also a good time to see what fall color the trees produce so you can get trees that will give a good fall show. I love seeing the maples all red and orange - in the woods where I don't have to rake their leaves.  Most of my yard is either locust or ash both of which have small leaves.  We've also planted a few oaks - they keep their leaves until spring when they will be chopped up in the first spring mowings.   I'm sure I'll loose most of the ash eventually, but I'll replace them with small leaved trees that are easy to chop with the mower and collect.