Fall on the farm is a magical time. The last summer tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are barely hanging on to squeeze the last drop of nutrients from their drying stems. Pumpkins and corn beg to be harvested before frost set in.
Napa cabbage, carrot, Jerusalem artichokes and turnips brave the cold in the field and plump themselves up before they are dug and stored in the ground root cellar.
The animals seem to feel the winter coming and some always find a way to sneak into the greenhouses to stock up on extra greens for the long winter. Chickens will fly over their fences to eat the tender napa cabbage hearts. Piglets will finagle their way out of the electric fence to steal spinach and just about anything.
Napa cabbage, carrot, Jerusalem artichokes and turnips brave the cold in the field and plump themselves up before they are dug and stored in the ground root cellar.
The animals seem to feel the winter coming and some always find a way to sneak into the greenhouses to stock up on extra greens for the long winter. Chickens will fly over their fences to eat the tender napa cabbage hearts. Piglets will finagle their way out of the electric fence to steal spinach and just about anything.
Bees hover over the fall chrysanthemums before their winter hibernation. A slight gust of wind will rain down crisp golden leaves. Morning dew keeps the ground moist and farm glistening in the morning hours.
It is this backdrop, that we held our 2011 Sixth Annual Green Cow Harvest Festival.
After six years of luck with dry weather, we decided to play it safe and set a rain date. Most Beijing farmers will tell you that it doesn’t rain much during this season. And when it does, it is quick and light–almost like Seattle rain.
The forecast had predicted rain for the five days leading up to the fest. But it never rained. On the morning of the Fest, there was heavy fog but no rain.
So we charged full force ahead. But as we neared opening the gates, light rain felled. It came, it went. Then it came back. It danced with our nerves and it chilled our feet. But it never took away the spirit of the harvest celebration.
It is this backdrop, that we held our 2011 Sixth Annual Green Cow Harvest Festival.
After six years of luck with dry weather, we decided to play it safe and set a rain date. Most Beijing farmers will tell you that it doesn’t rain much during this season. And when it does, it is quick and light–almost like Seattle rain.
The forecast had predicted rain for the five days leading up to the fest. But it never rained. On the morning of the Fest, there was heavy fog but no rain.
So we charged full force ahead. But as we neared opening the gates, light rain felled. It came, it went. Then it came back. It danced with our nerves and it chilled our feet. But it never took away the spirit of the harvest celebration.
I think that the photos captured that spirit.
It reminds us that nature is unpredictable.
And makes us appreciate that farmers work in all types of weather conditions to grow our food. It did make for a very different and wet festival.
It reminds us that nature is unpredictable.
And makes us appreciate that farmers work in all types of weather conditions to grow our food. It did make for a very different and wet festival.
And as a result, we decided it was only fair to hold another festival on the rain date.
Thus on Oct. 30th we held the Seventh Green Cow Rain Date Harvest Fest.
And luckily there was no rain !
