Harvesting the Seeds of Next Year

As summer transitions into fall, heat gives way to frost (yep I had a deep 25F one), green gives way to brown, and blooms give way to seeds. As such, the seed harvest is underway and I am the only entrant in a slow race against the changing of the seasons.
There is much to do with the land as the seasons change beyond harvesting seeds like cleaning and repairing tools, organizing the chaos that became of the work spaces after the speed of spring and summer, saving every last bloom to hang and dry, digging for fall planted bulbs and seeds, preparing tender perennials to survive the coming winter, and working on all the human-based building projects to provide the spaces that I need to work with the land. And as the fruits ripen and the grasses die back, all that work begins now. As green gives way to gold, all that work begins now. As the frosts creep back into the morns, all that work begins now.
My favorite part of that work, the part that makes me feel the most rooted, the most connected to this place, this valley, this mountain range, this forest and field, is harvesting seeds.

Seeds are a little packet of future life that is gifted upon the land by the plants that live now. I am bestowed with both the duty and the joy of saving them, caring for them, and then planting them. My method of saving seeds works as a metaphor for how I approach tending, growing, and farming the land.
It is purposefully 'messy and lazy'!

As I collect both grown and wild seeds, I'm purposefully not carefully collecting every single seed. If you watch the birds in deep winter congregating around the few grass stalks that stick above the snow, or clinging to the tall stalks of Mullein, or scratching under bare branches, you will notice that I am not the only one that needs these seeds. I leave many for the birds, squirrels, and other tiny beings that survive winter upon these seeds. Thus from a modern perspective, I am lazy because I leave many seeds behind and I am messy because I let many fall through the grasses and I leave many weeds standing. 
This is my small way to rebel against the modern ideal of productivity, efficiency, and labor while rejuvenating and healing my relationality to the land and those I share it with.
Because the seeds of next year grow abundant for all, not just me or you, but we!

the smoke seems to finally be clearing but it can be hard to tell with the deep mists of cool autumn mornings

the smoke seems to finally be clearing but it can be hard to tell with the deep mists of cool autumn mornings

Impending hard frosts meant deep harvests of some of the last blooms. These marigolds were added to the pile of orange and gold ones already drying and filling up the hanging space in my living room. It's hard not to bring work home, or into your home, when you are a farmer!

And once the frosts came, the harvests are now about getting every last bit that survived even the tiniest amount to dry for a winter season filled with wreaths, bouquets, crowns, and everlasting decorations of all kinds!

Finally the seeds! This is the time of year when I scrounge all the sheds, barns, attic, and field for totes, bags, buckets, anything solid really to collect and store seed heads in. Next week, threshing!

Where to find it all?
Look for the return of the Microgreens this winter!

Plus lots of Everlasting Florals 

and, of course, lots and lots of Seed Packets ❤️