Up until this past week, autumn seemed to be making a very slow advance. Temperatures have gradually gotten cooler, but we haven’t seen any frost in my neighborhood yet, and the trees’ leaves have been changing but not dramatically so, with little drop. In my own yard and others, fall flowers such as asters, mums and dahlias still bloom, and even roses, zinnias and fuschias continue to bravely show their colors.

I’ve not been lulled into complacency, though, for I know what’s coming, and I’ve learned from past experience that if I delay in cleaning up the annuals and pulling out the zucchini, pepper and tomato plants that had quit producing, I will have an overwhelming amount of yard work to do on shorter, wetter days. In the last month I’ve cleared out the raised vegetable beds and planted my garlic and, optimistically, sown lettuce, spinach and arugula, hoping for some fresh greens before it gets frosty. I’ve screened several wheelbarrow loads of compost from my bin and spread it over the flower and vegetable beds, cut back the annuals that have gone sad and droopy, and cleaned up my potted plants. All the while I enjoyed mostly sunny days and mild temperatures, making those chores fairly pleasant, with the added delight of seeing the garden neat and tidy after the riotous growth of summer.

Then, just before Halloween, we got a good dose of rain, and suddenly the trees accelerated their transition from green to brilliant yellows, oranges and reds. Literally within the span of four days, I watched our front yard maple go from dull green and a sort of muddy purple to orange and then bright red. Throughout our Rogue Valley I saw the same intensification of those autumn hues everywhere I looked, and as strong winds tore through the area on Monday, just as quickly many of those colorful leaves accumulated in heaps and drifts on streets and lawns.

Now a new set of chores awaits me, for those pretty leaves are going to have to be dealt with. I’ll be mowing over them to break them up and condense their bulk and then bagging them up to be combined with green lawn clippings next spring in my compost pile . . . whose contents will then go on my garden beds in the fall — the circle of life!

I wasn’t idle on those recent rainy days, either, for those 40 pounds of apples we picked several weeks ago needed to be addressed. I’d been putting it off, but now it was time to make applesauce. The process isn’t complicated but does take some time and preparation. After giving them a quick bath in the sink, I quarter and remove the seeds from the apples (Jonagolds and Braeburns, if you’re taking notes). They then get cut into chunks and deposited into a couple of large pots,  set to simmer slowly on the range while I clean the canning jars. Once the apples have cooked down and softened, I run the mixture through my ancient, hand-cranked food mill while the water in the canner heats up. Having heated the jars up in the boiling water, I then pour the sauce into the jars, pop the lids on and set the jars in the canner. Once they have processed for 10 minutes, they are removed (carefully!) and set aside to cool for 24 hours. We like to hear that little ping! as the seal is made, ensuring we can safely stow them away on the shelf for at least a year.

I completed that whole process twice, ending up with more than a dozen quart jars of delicious, sweet applesauce (no sugar added)  that we and our grandkids can enjoy over the coming months. Yes, these autumn chores take quite a lot of time and effort, but there is so much satisfaction to be gained in the results: those gleaming jars, the bags of leaves and that tidy garden.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor