How can it be that Fall is already upon us? Are those really yellow leaves on the willows, in place of ones that so recently had leafed out green? It seems it was only yesterday that the willows looked like this, colorful but bare:
Late spring willows
I’m shocked to see that the grass in certain secret meadows has already turned the pale gold of the African savannah. The wonderful crew from Owl Creek Ranch has just finished haying here. Proud stacks of gorgeous green big bales testify that indeed the 800 acres of hay meadows were a waving sea of green only a couple of weeks ago. So I know I wasn’t dreaming….
Owl Creek haying the north Law field
It’s a strange time of year, this cusp of the seasons. The change is evident in everything. Clusters of swallows, like knobby gems on a steel necklace, mass on the electric wire between utility poles, preparing to launch their migration south. A young badger has appeared in our rodent sanctuary, home to marmots, large chipmunks and tiny least ones. He’s searching for richer feed before winter. I have no doubt that large badger holes will soon dot the slope below our house. I fear for the chippies and others, though as I said to Bernard a couple months ago, as soon as nature reaches a level of too many rodents, a badger will appear. It happened five years ago and it’s happening again.
Baby marmots
On the bright side, now that haying’s done, I finally had a fabulous, full-out canter across a 350 acre stretch of level meadow, the grass clipped as close as a Marine’s “high-and-tight” and the peaty earth resounding beneath my horse’s hoofs as he sped along. I hope Magic enjoyed it as much as I did!
Magic
