The next few days mark the traditional end to the gardening season, with the celebration of St. Martinmas. All in garden tasks are completed, while homesteading work moves indoors for the winter and livestock are returned to barns after herds are culled. This is the beginning of  "natural winter"--not calendar winter. Feasting on the final garden and butchered bounty continues for a few weeks until Advent brings a period of fasting.

"Snow on St Martinmas, snow on Christmas"

My final return to the garden over these next few days, will find me digging the last of the carrots, beets, onions, radishes and harvesting some hardy greens like chard and beets. The roots will be loosly packed in baskets and moved to ......