These majestic birds have returned to the valley. When we see these marvelous wonders of creation it is a sure sign that the farming season is nearing its end. Their ever distinctive trumpeting can be heard clearly as they grace the skies above our farm.
As a farmer, I find that the longer I farm in this region the more I am tied to the nuances of its local ecosystem. In the spring I am reminded that it will be time to work the ground when I see the early bulbs start to emerge and the grasses wake up. It is the same when that fall air begins to grace the end of August—I better hurry up because the season is coming to a close. And with winter right around the corner, early November brings the swans.
I can be walking in the field, or sitting at my desk, or working with the draft horses and I will inevitably stop and listen and then look up. I love that sound on a crisp fall morning as they fly eastward over the farm to their morning feasting grounds. And conversely, at about dusk on their return flight to Port Susan, I am reminded to head in myself and enjoy my family.
Nature has been embedded with a whole lot of wisdom and farming that keeps that wisdom in mind always succeeds.
As for now, I am looking forward to our farm’s winter rest and the music of the trumpeters till spring.
-image from tufts.edu