Today (September 29th) is Michaelmas Day, one of the four historic quarter days, when traditionally farms change hands and farm rents are paid. The wheat harvest has finished and the ground is ready for next year’s crop, making Michaelmas Day a natural break in the farming calendar.
Michaelmas Day 2018 has been a wonderful day, with blue skies and sunshine.
The perfect day to take a walk in the countryside.
To enjoy the changing colours of the leaves on the trees …
… and the scarlet splashes of the haws on an old gnarled hawthorn tree.
To make a note that the crab apples need picking if I’m to make Spiced Crab Apples this year.
There’s time to stop and talk to horses.
To marvel at the Old and New as vapour trails from the planes headed for Stansted Airport criss cross over the bright blue sky above ancient trees.
To wonder why another lone sunflower has appeared. In the summer, one lonely sunflower popped up in the middle of one of our fields of barley and now this one is growing in our neighbour’s strip of cover crop. Maybe someone has been wandering around with a handful of sunflower seeds, tossing them willy nilly into the fields. Who knows?
According to some, a clear, sunny Michaelmas day means a dry, freezing winter ahead.
We shall see.
What a lovely selection of photos. Love the pony one.
I seem to pull errant Sunflower seedlings from everywhere. We leave the flowerheads in situ so that the birds can feed on them going into Autumn and I reckon it is the birds who are responsible for the erratic appearance of seedlings 😀
I am surprised by the number of plants giving us a second showing of flowers this year, especially this late on!
I think it must be the birds. The cover crop went in very late so I’m amazed at how quickly the sunflowers grew. The second flush on some flowers has been better than the first.
September has been a beautiful month this year. Perhaps a bird dropped a sunflower seed?
You might be right about the bird.
Wonderful images Anne .. I just love the one of the horse 🙂
It’s a very docile horse and very happy to stand still for the camera, unlike some of the flighty ones.
I have a sunflower growing in a potted fuchsia! It looks most odd.
How strange! They’re everywhere this year.
Beautiful photos. I have not heard of Michaelmas Day. What a wonderful day to celebrate.