My last four posts have been about winter weather that came calling. Nov. 2 is when the snow and cold hit us.
However until that time we've had great fall weather. Temperatures have been above normal. It's been dry. It's been nice to be out every day.
So I think back to what my Dad used to call "an open fall". Dad was a farmer. He bought his first land in 1935 and struggled like most farmers at that time. He did manage to farm and make a living all his life until he retired in 1973.
My title refers to what Dad would say about the type of weather we've had this fall. He would call this an open fall. This would mean that he had time to do all the farm work that needed to be done. Harvest was one of the things that required warm dry weather. He had 10-15 cattle. An open fall would mean that the cattle stayed out longer and ate grass. This also meant that the feed supplies he had could last longer. The cattle would be allowed to leave the farm and find the best forage. .We would collect them every night.
I also liked this time of year as it was good weather to wander all over the place.
Has anybody else heard of the term "open fall"? I don't remember anyone else using the term.
I have not heard that Red, but it makes sense!
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense in a rural setting.
DeleteThanks for the education Mr. Red. Interesting term for the extension of warmer weather activities. K.C. wakes up to 10 degrees F in the morning! Bleh. Cows better be inside around here. I learned from a farmer who was a patient of mine at a city hospital about snow drifts freezing and melting in the sun, then refreezing. He'd received a call from the home farm while in the hospital about some of his cows mingling with the cows next door, all because they could walk right over the fence that had such frozen drifted snow! I'm sure you must've seen that too. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteThe drifted snow thing brings back many memories of hard snow.
DeleteI've never heard the expression "open fall" but wonder if it's a farming term. You have a LOT of snow! I don't get much where I live which is lucky because I don't like to drive in it.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is a rural term and quite old. thanks for dropping in to Hiawatha House.
DeleteNo, I have not heard the term Open Fall. Great photo of your father.
ReplyDeleteTake care, have a great day and happy weekend.
I am near St Louis Missouri and some of my great grandparents farmed
ReplyDeletein the St Louis area, not where the city is, but where the suburbs are now. On my Mom's side of the family, my Grandpa had a small farm plus was a Methodist preacher. They lived about 2 hours away from St Louis, in Southeast Missouri. Red soil down there, not the black soil that is up here around the St. Louis area where my Grandparents from my Dad's side of the family farmed.
The near St Louis Great Grandparents were of German Irish descent, and the southeast Missouri were of Scot/Irish/Scandinavian descent
and I never heard the term Open Fall. So I guess maybe it is term local to your part of the USA.
My husband's Grandma spent her young childhood living in a sod house on the plains of Nebraska, and her life as a grown woman in Illinois living out in the country in a modern house on a beautiful piece of farmland along the Little Wabash River . She grew a lot of vegetables, but my husband's Grandpa worked in highway
construction.
My Southeastern Missouri Grandparents, and my husband's Grandparents both had the best tasting drinking water on their farms than any other places I have ever been.
I liked seeing the picture of your Dad. He was a handsome man.
I'm beginning to think that the term was quite local. Thanks for dropping by Hiawatha house.
DeleteHi via Debby's blog, Life's funny like that.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of an open fall. However it is a good description
I'm beginning to think that the term was quite local. Thanks for the visit.
DeleteI've never heard of the term. I have always used "classic fall" for the same thing and we've had our second one in a row. It is like adding another month to your schedule you weren't counting on.
ReplyDeleteWe always say , "It shortens the winter".
DeleteGreat memory. I had never heard that term and it is interesting to hear about its use. Thank you, Red.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been very local.
DeleteNo, I never heard the term before, but it makes sense. Thank you for your posts, Red. I miss you when you don't post. :-)
ReplyDeleteI think it was an agricultural term and you don't have that background. By the way I haven't found anybody familiar with the term.
DeleteI have never heard that term, Red. I always imagine that a farmer's life is a difficult one as they are so dependent on the weather which can be so unpredictable! The farmer certainly has to be adaptable for any situation that arises!
ReplyDeleteThey also have to be tough as they work under some challenging conditions.
DeleteI've never heard of it, but it sounds like how we would describe Indian summer.
ReplyDeleteIndian summer would be a similar term.
DeleteI haven't ever heard the term "open fall." I love that you are having an "open fall" there and that it reminds you of your dad.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to do some research on this term as No one has heard it before.
DeleteI haven't heard it, but it IS a good term!
ReplyDeleteI think it must be a rural term.
DeleteBeing city boy growing up, I never heard that term. It does make sense, thanks for sharing a fond memory.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that it's likely to be a rural term.
DeleteA new term to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I didn't find anyone familiar with the term.
DeleteOpen fall - warm enough to let the cows roam. I like it!
ReplyDeleteIt’s new to me, but we don’t come from farmers. Gardeners maybe, but not farmers.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of that, but then I grew up in Hawaii so it's understandable. You have had such a wonderful, colorful, exciting, meaningful life, Red.
ReplyDeleteYou've had some great stories. A fine photo, too!
ReplyDelete