The Best 31 Days of the Year

As we wrap up our first official weekend of harvest season, I took some time to reflect on our accomplishments and the beginning of a new season.

New seasons are exciting, but they don’t come without growing pains. The growing pains have been settling in so hard this week that even a bottle of Tylenol can’t shut them down.

It’s no lie that everybody loves fall and everything that comes with it: from the crisp air to the beautiful foliage. However, adjusting from the fun and fancy free schedule of summer to the lock down the hatches and get all you can done before winter comes can come with quite a bit of stress and angst if we let it.

There are only so many hours in a day and so many days in a week. And sadly, only 31 days in October. Focus on the things that matter the most to you and take care of the rest in January when the snow’s flying.

It’s the most beautiful time of the year.

Savor it.

Let’s make the most of those 31 days.

That Very Same Spot

One of my favorite spots in the house is right here. It’s where we eat as a family almost every single night, regardless of what’s going on.

Sometimes we make exceptions. We might eat in the field or in our farm shop during busy seasons. In the summer on a cooler day we will enjoy a meal out on the picnic table or in the chairs sitting on the front porch. We’ve also been known to have a picnic on the living room floor in front of the fireplace. But for the most part, this spot right here is where we share all our hopes, dreams, goals and sometimes, we may even have an argument or two.

You don’t have to have a decorated, set table like I prefer. Consider it a hobby of mine. But I do think it’s important to have a spot. A spot where your family can find comfort in sharing what’s on their heart. A spot where recipes are repeated and pencils from paperwork or homework accidentally carve a scratch in the wood. A place to gather at the end of a busy day.

Growing up, our 'spot' was at my mom’s kitchen table.

No matter what was going on in the world, I always knew that was my retreat and where I’d find peace. It was something I always took for granted... but something changed on September 11, 2001, when we sat down as a family to eat that night. I started looking at mom’s kitchen table in a much different light.

And I knew someday, I wanted that very same spot in my own home.

Fall on Hold

The calendar says #fall is here and so does Starbucks and Facebook memories, but Mother Nature is resisting.

A new #season is like this thing with ingredients and instructions that all measure up just so like our favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies. You know, great grandma’s “secret” recipe, that at one time, came off of the bag of Tollhouse chocolate chips. That one. It sort of feels like we forgot the chocolate chips or even the butter and we can’t make cookies until we get back to the store or wander down to our neighbors to borrow said missing ingredients. Do people still do that? Maybe we will wait on Amazon. “Alexa, send me some brown sugar!”

The Pumpkin Spice Latte has been on the menu since August 1st, women have done their fall boutique shop hops in their cute seasonal graphic tees and families have ventured out to the patch to find their perfect pumpkins, but farmers are waiting patiently to harvest their crops.

Even though it’s 90 degrees, energy bill obsessed folks are ready to turn off the air conditioning and young girls are dying to get out their flannel collection and dive into a pile of leaves for the perfect Instagram photo op. For goodness sakes, Menards has Christmas on display but yet the leaves haven’t even turned the slightest shade from green.

In the meantime, while we are patiently waiting for fall to officially arrive, I’ll be at Starbucks sipping on a Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew.

At least we have that.