In the last decade, the mobile phone number has discreetly evolved from a means of connectivity to a universal digital ID.

Alt: Candy Corn Flames on pretzel 'logs' Display

Read the full story from NPR. Texas experienced its warmest winter on record since 1895 and the state's farmers say those high temperatures hampered their peach harvest.

Summer is theoretically over, although you wouldn't know it when temperatures are still way too high for the month and we are dearly missing rain. Still, we are past the autumn equinox, the day are getting noticeably shorter, and to me, it kind of feels like fall (if that makes sense). That might also have something to do with the fact that the only trees that still have fruit are the apples, the quinces, and the medlars.

Summer is theoretically over, although you wouldn’t know it when temperatures are still way too high for the month and we are dearly missing rain. Still, we are past the autumn equinox, the day are getting noticeably shorter, and to me, it kind of _feels_ like fall (if that makes sense). That might also have something to do with the fact that the only trees that still have fruit are the apples, the quinces, and the medlars. (In case you’ve never heard of the latter, here you go. 🙂 ) Meaning everything else has been harvested: the topic of today’s tales. ## Wool I’ll start with something that usually doesn’t fall under harvest: alpaca wool. We finally got around to cleaning up the fleece, at least the highest grade quality portion, and bringing it to a spinnery. Here’s how César’s wool looked when we started: As you can see in the front bits, it still has lots of plant matter sticking to it, burrs, hay, and whatever they roll around in over the course of the year. We also had to separate out the whiter parts, which are rougher, and just left the hairs of uniform quality; for him, they are generally 8-10 cm (3-4 inches) in length, which is ideal. After the process, we had a bit less than 3 kg raw wool in total, 60% of that from Colin. (César’s good wool is finer, but Colin has more high grade.) The spinnery we brought it to is a 90 minute drive, just in the Gironde, and allowed for a nice day trip with some sightseeing. But first, the lady who runs the shop gave us a tour of the process, and it’s fascinating! First, the raw wool is thrown into a wire mesh drum, which gets rid of all the loose dirt we missed out in our own cleaning. Then, it’s washed in what looked like a regular top-loader washing machine, and dried in a drying chamber. Alpaca wool absorbs much less water than sheep wool, wicking it instead, but drying still takes a bit of time. And when it’s all the way dry, it goes into a machine called “le loup” (the wolf); that machine “flakes” it and blows the flakes into a closed chamber, where water gets added again. Why? Because electrostatics; too dry wool is incredibly sticky, so it needs an exact percentage of moisture for the next steps. The next machine “cards” the wool; what this does is pull the fibers into parallel strands. Due to their structure, they stick together, so you get a long, thin band of fiber, which is then combined (twice) by the next machine into one thicker band. Then, finally, it goes to the spinning machine. There it’s twisted into a surprisingly thin thread—although not so surprising when you consider that high quality alpaca wool is under 20 micron thin, i.e. 2/1000th of a millimeter. (Less than 1/1000 of an inch.) Still not done. The next machine adds several threads together to make it suitably thick for knitting, and then it’s wound in balls or onto cones. And THEN it will be shipped to us, sometime next year January or February, because of the amount of work it takes and the backlog she has. My wife will make the wool into pullovers for herself and me, Norwegian pattern style. Probably ready for winter 2027/28, and I’m super looking forward to it. 🙂 ## Fruit Now for the “real” harvests. We have some 50ish fruit trees, most planted by us in 2019 and 2023, and 4 old ones. Some of the trees did surprisingly well despite the drought and heat; our 150 year old pear tree never gave me such a high yield as this year, allowing me to fill barrels of about 250 liters for fermentation and later distillation into pear brandy. (For those of you who drink alcohol: after you’ve tasted my pear brandy you’ll never touch a conventional store-bought Williams Christ ever again. 😉 ) I already mentioned the cherries earlier this year, another one of the older trees, which netted me some thirty jars of canned fruit, a few buckets for friends, and LOTS left over for the birds and insects. The peach trees are a lot smaller; the ones planted in 2022 had some nice fruit in July, but the highlight reel are the “vinyard peaches” (peche de vigne — not sure there’s an actual English word for them): The 7 year old tree yielded about four of these buckets, 40 liters. None for the birds this time: I canned 18 jars, gave two buckets to friends, and we ate the rest over the course of a week, as ice cream, with yoghurt, to cheese, or just as is. And I started something that the recipe calls “sunshine in a bottle”: peach liqueur. Doesn’t look like much yet, but I already tried the recipe last year, and it’s really a marvelous aperitif come winter time. (It will be ready in December.) Not forgetting the plums: three carried well, and those I didn’t eat went into the freezer, some of which I’ll be using to try out a plum mead, one of the fruit meads (so-called melomels) I haven’t tried before. Will be starting that soon. The apples are next. Most of those didn’t deal with the summer well; one that did is the “Reinette Dorée“, an old local variety that knows our bad soil; and while the climatic conditions haven’t been this bad in the past, they probably knew better what to expect. I’ll be gathering/picking them by the end of the week; no idea yet what to do with the apples, though. We’ll see. ## Housekeeping notes I mentioned last week that there have been a lot of new newsletter signups. Unfortunately, almost all recent contacts have been bots or scammers, some so brazen I might just write a future post about it. That means I’ve been forced to add a verification step to signups; long-time readers won’t see any change. If, however, you are one of the folks who signed up in the past four weeks, please either comment on this post, or send a reply to the email you receive to show you are real and human. I had one older post (on misconceptions about life expectancy) which was missing the charts; I finally found and added them. It’s not a story, but still a good post, if you are interested in these kinds of things. 🙂 And finally: mama hen decided the chicks were old enough to get by without her help; a reasonable assumption at nine weeks of age, especially given the fact that they were spending most of their day on the other side of the fence where mama couldn’t reach them anyway. It looks like they are doing okay: ### Share this: * Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky * Share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon * Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads * Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook * Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email * Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn * Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp * Share on X (Opens in new window) X * ### _Related_

Rainfall this year has been the weakest in more than a decade, putting harvests and economic growth at risk.

In June, the UN asked for $202 million to protect these harvests before they fail. Less than 20% of that money has been found, and no government has announced a contribution earmarked to the appeal.

Cool weather crops and fast-growing varieties to grow now

There’s a particular feeling to the turn from summer into autumn. It doesn’t happen all at once, and that’s perhaps what can make this period so enjoyable. One day can still feel distinctly summery, with warm sunshine and plenty happening in the garden, while the following morning brings a chill in the air, dew on the grass and noticeably less light at the end of the day. For those of us living close to the land, this transition is more than a change in the calendar. The garden begins to ask different things of us. Harvests need gathering and storing, some crops are coming to an end while others can still be planted, buildings and equipment need checking before wetter weather arrives, and the pace of outdoor work gradually begins to change. It’s a useful time to prepare, but it’s also worth resisting the temptation to see autumn simply as a list of jobs that need completing before winter. There’s plenty to enjoy in this period of change, and some of the most rewarding things to do now are about noticing what’s happening rather than trying to hold on to summer. * * * ## Make the Most of the Remaining Harvest One of the first priorities is making sure that the food the garden has produced doesn’t go to waste. September and early October can still be surprisingly productive, with tomatoes, beans, courgettes, apples, pears, squash and a range of other crops ready to be harvested depending on where you live and what you grow. Some crops are best picked regularly to encourage further production, while others need bringing in before cold or wet conditions make harvesting more difficult. Onions and potatoes can be stored once properly cured, apples and pears can be kept in suitable conditions, and herbs, fruit and vegetables can be frozen, dried, bottled, pickled or fermented. There’s something particularly satisfying about putting food away at this time of year. A cupboard filled with jars or a freezer containing produce from the garden is a reminder of what the land has provided over the past few months, but it also changes the way you think about the coming season. Instead of seeing winter simply as a period when little grows, you begin it with some of the abundance of summer still available to you. * * * ## Prepare the Garden for What Comes Next Autumn preparation doesn’t mean stripping the garden back to bare soil. Remove plants that have finished producing or have become diseased, but consider leaving healthy stems, seed heads and other vegetation where they can provide shelter and food for wildlife. Fallen leaves can also become useful organic matter, particularly when gathered for leaf mould or used appropriately as mulch. Bare beds can be covered with compost or another suitable organic material, helping to protect the soil from heavy rain and giving it something to work with over the months ahead. If you grow on a larger plot, this is also a useful opportunity to look back at the summer and notice what worked and what didn’t. Perhaps one part of the garden stayed too dry, another became waterlogged or a particular crop struggled in a certain position. These observations are much more useful than trying to remember everything when spring arrives. One of the easiest mistakes to make in autumn is assuming that the growing year has finished. There are still plenty of things that can be planted, particularly early in the season while the soil retains some warmth. Garlic is an obvious choice, while some varieties of broad beans, onions and hardy salad crops can also be suitable for autumn planting or sowing depending on local conditions. It’s also a good time for planting trees, shrubs and many perennial plants. Cooler conditions can make establishment easier, provided the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged, and getting plants into the ground now gives them time to establish roots before the demands of another summer. Spring-flowering bulbs are another simple way to look beyond the current season. Planting them in autumn means that the garden is already preparing for colour that won’t appear for several months. That’s one of the more enjoyable aspects of this period. Even while you’re putting the garden to bed in some places, you’re quietly preparing other parts of it for what comes next. 🍂 'For those of us living close to the land, this transition is more than a change in the calendar. The garden begins to ask different things of us.' * * * ## Get the Homestead Ready for Wetter Weather There are practical jobs that are much easier to deal with while the weather is still relatively mild. Check sheds, greenhouses, polytunnels, fences and gates for damage, clear gutters where necessary and look for small problems that could become much bigger once persistent rain and strong winds arrive. If you collect rainwater, check tanks, barrels and connections, while tools should be cleaned, dried and stored properly rather than being left outside as the weather deteriorates. The same applies to anything you’ll rely on more heavily during winter. Firewood needs somewhere dry and well ventilated, animal housing may need repairs or additional protection, and equipment that becomes difficult to use in wet or cold weather is worth checking now. None of these jobs are particularly glamorous, but there’s a real benefit to doing them before they become urgent. A few hours spent repairing a gate or organising a wood store in September can save considerable frustration several months later. * * * ## Change Your Own Pace Alongside the Garden Preparation is only one part of the transition. Autumn also gives us an opportunity to change how we spend time outside. The summer garden can be demanding. There’s watering, weeding, harvesting, mowing, planting and a seemingly endless list of small tasks that need attention while everything is growing quickly. By autumn, some of that pressure naturally begins to ease. Rather than immediately replacing one list of jobs with another, allow some of that time to disappear. Take a walk around the garden without a particular task in mind. Notice which trees are beginning to change colour, where the first leaves are collecting and how the light looks different in the late afternoon. Listen for the changes in birdsong and notice how much quieter the garden can feel compared with the height of summer. It’s easy to overlook these things when every trip outside is connected to something that needs doing, but they’re part of what makes living with the land so rewarding. There’s also a tendency to think of autumn as a period of decline, as though the garden is simply losing everything it had gained during summer. But the crops that are ready now are different from those we enjoyed a few months ago. Apples, pears, squash, potatoes, brassicas, beans and stored onions lend themselves to different meals and different ways of cooking. The garden begins to provide food that suits cooler evenings, while preserving and storing what remains from summer creates a connection between the two seasons. This can be a good time to make soups from surplus vegetables, bake with apples, dry herbs, preserve fruit or simply cook slowly with whatever is available. Fallen leaves can be collected for leaf mould, while the compost system can continue working as the garden becomes quieter. The changing season can influence the way we eat and work without needing to become another rule to follow. 🌱 'One of the easiest mistakes to make in autumn is assuming that the growing year has finished. There are still plenty of things that can be planted, particularly early in the season while the soil retains some warmth.' * * * ## Embrace the Transition! Perhaps most importantly, not every autumn job needs to be done immediately. There’s value in allowing some parts of the garden to change naturally. Seed heads can remain standing, leaves can be left in suitable areas and some plants can provide food and shelter for wildlife throughout the colder months. A garden doesn’t need to be completely tidy to be well cared for. The same is true of the wider homestead. There will always be another improvement that could be made, another shed that could be reorganised or another job that could be added to the list. Autumn preparation should make the coming months easier, not leave you exhausted before they’ve even begun. The move into autumn is one of the most noticeable changes in the year, particularly when you spend much of your time outdoors. The light fades earlier, temperatures begin to fall and the landscape gradually takes on different colours and textures. But alongside that change comes harvest, preparation, planting and the chance to approach the land differently. Do the jobs that genuinely matter. Bring in what needs protecting, preserve what you can, plant for the seasons ahead, repair the things that need attention and make sure the homestead is ready for wetter and colder weather. Then leave some time to experience the season itself. Homesteading isn’t about keeping everything in a permanent state of productivity. The land changes, and our relationship with it has to change too. After the intensity of summer, the cooler months offer a chance to slow down, take stock and appreciate a different side of the place we’ve spent so much time working on. Winter will arrive soon enough. For now, there’s still plenty to harvest, plenty to prepare and plenty to enjoy in the turning of the season. What's one thing you are most anticipating at this time of year?

In the six charts below, Carbon Brief provides a snapshot of the impact this summer’s extremes are considered to have had on crop production and yields across Europe.

Rainfall this year has been the weakest in more than a decade, putting harvests and economic growth at risk.