According to the Japanese Seasonal Calendar, today, August 8, is the first day of fall. It marks the time when you first sense fall in the air. The last few mornings, there has been a chill in the air. The sun is coming up three quarters of an hour later than at the solstice. The days are an hour and a half shorter. This evening there were even dark clouds, wind gusts, and a handful of raindrops, not the buckets we need.

Hazel’s chicks are two weeks old. Their wing feathers are showing. Every day Hazel takes them on a grand tour which starts at the crack of dawn. Each day these chicks walk more than industrial chickens walk their entire lives.

Tangerine is nestling in to hatch a clutch. She’s a feisty hen. She should make a good mother.

The poppies are throwing one last hurrah before all their petals drift to the ground. Many of them have dropped their petals already and are now plump seed pops with amusing hats. At the end of summer, once their seed pods have dried, I’ll turn the seed pops upside down and shake out their tiny black seeds. I’m looking forward to delicious poppy seed breads and poppy seed filling for poppy seed rolls.

Poppy seed pops have an ingenious design. As they dry, little holes open just under their caps. When they are ready, all you have to do to get their seeds is to turn the seed pods upside down. All their seeds will flow out. It would be great if other plants did this.