Autumn Feast 2000
Thanksgiving
Feasts
A history of this uniquely American
harvest celebration.
Indian
Pudding Recipe
A traditional Indian pudding
Turkey
Recipe
Slow cooked turkey recipe (our first web article)
Grandma's
Farm
Remembering Thanksgiving at
grandmother's house
Burning
Wood
An article on burning wood for heat in
winter
Feeding
Deer in Winter
Incorrect feeding of deer in winter
can have a negative impact
Ivory antlers raised,
nostrils quivering,
yearning
for the doe's approach.
Linda Pascatore - Autumn Feast 1999
Cart of garden tools,
crunching through the dark
frost
on the last morning ride.
by Juan Wilson - Autumn Feast 1998
The Phase Named
Feast
We have divided the year into eight
phases, based on the Solstices, the Equinoxes and the
midpoints of the four seasons (see Solar Phases below).
We are now in the phase of Feast, which begins on
November 5th, shortly after Halloween. It is the midpoint
between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice. The
days will continue to grow shorter until the Winter
Solstice, the longest night.
Winter is already upon us here in
Western New York. It usually snows at least once before
Halloween in these parts, and this year was no exception.
Since then, we had a good snow that stayed on the ground
for several days. This is a period of last preparations
for the winter, followed by a Thanksgiving harvest feast.
To access an article about the traditions of this
holiday, "Thanksgiving Feasts", select the Feast button
above or below.
According to the Old Farmer's Almanac,
Saturn reaches opposition on November 6th. It rises at
sunset and is visible through the night. If the sky is
clear, you might catch a great show of the Leonid Meteor
shower, which peaks after midnight on November
17th-18th.
We name each moon cycle as the Native
Americans did (see Lunar Phases below). There are two
full moons this period. The first is Running Deer Moon on
November 23rd. It is so named because it comes during the
rut, or mating season (and also during deer hunting
season). Bucks grow a new rack each year. In the fall
they scrape the fuzzy skin or velvet off the racks on a
sapling, leaving "buck rubs". As daylight decreases in
late fall, hormones are released and the buck's neck
swells and makes him appear larger. The bucks come into
rut two weeks before the does, and they spend that time
fighting with other bucks for dominance. They also make
"buck scrapes" in their territory, pawing away leaves and
urinating on spots. They check the scrapes regularly, for
a doe in estrus will hang around the scented scrape so
the buck can find her.
December 23rd will be a significant
evening because this year the Winter Solstice, the
longest night of the year, and the full moon coincide.
This moon is appropriately named Dark Frost. That night
will also be the lunar perigee, when the moon is closest
to the earth this year.
When the
Frost is on the Punkin
by James Whitcomb
Riley
When the frost is on
the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the
kyouck and gobble of the struttin'
turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of
the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's
hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then's the
times a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to
greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the
house, bare-headed, and goes out to feed the
stock,
When the frost is on
the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.
They's something
kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of
summer's over and the coolin' fall is here--
Of course we miss the
flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the
hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so
appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny
morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no
painter has the colorin' to mock--
When the frost is on
the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.
The husky, rusty
russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the
tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the
furries--kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to
us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the
medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr
stalls below--the clover overhead!--
O, it sets my hart
a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on
the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!
Then your apples all
is getherd, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the
celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin'
's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With their mince and
apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage,
too!...
I don't know how to
tell it--but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin'
boardin', and they'd call around on
me--
I'd want to 'commodate
'em--all the whole-indurin' flock--
When the frost is on
the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!
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