October - from the 'Year at Robie Creek' series
Originally published in the: A friend said to me in the middle of September, “How can you be doin’ autumny stuff? Summer’s not even over!” Well, halfway across the country to the east and south, and 3,000 feet closer to sea level, no, indeed it was not, but here the leaves would be falling soon from a very light freeze the night before that conversation. Now we’ve got full-blown fall color and if there hasn’t been snow on the ground yet, there soon will be. My hunting season is winding down – hunting of bugs for the bug-eating members of our household, that is – while hunting season for large mammals is ramping up. Dude may go this year with a friend, another disabled vet from down the road, depending upon Dude’s work schedule and the weather. He’s not a hunter by nature but it’s good to keep those skills intact on the off chance they should be needed. I’m convinced that if it came to that kind of survival situation we could do just fine with plants provided we’d gathered and p