October started with a good mix of sun and rain. The rainy days made it feel like winter is actually here. Rain also brought snow to the tops of the mountains surrounding us. The early mornings after the rain were such a cool sight of snow, which melted away with the sun during the day. With the temperature dropping below 10 degrees, the Fall this year started with all the chills in the air!
As I mentioned in the previous blog, I moved to a new place by the end of September, and October started off all green. The cornfields were all in their prime and ready to be harvested. In fact, the corn was all harvested, but the rest of the plants were kept to dry for the cows in the winter.
Soon, they were all tied up and left to dry in the sun. Then they were bundled up and kept trapped in the apple trees to get thoroughly dried. The Fall in Shilha Village is meant to prepare resources for the upcoming harsh winter. For the villagers, the main part of this preparation is to collect as much grass and other food for their cows.
Most of these works are done by kids and women. The majority of their day is spent cutting grass and bringing those huge bundles to the sheds. Today, my landowner's daughter was taking off the corn leaf bundles from apple trees and keeping them in the grass shed. The bundles she carries are pretty big and heavy. They have holidays nowadays, and this work is divided between her and her younger brother. However, he escaped after the first two rounds.
It is not just the grass; they also collected all the pumpkins as well. They were then kept in the sun to dry and given to cows during the winter. Even though all these feed looks enormous, these are all they get to eat for three months of winter. Shilha village is generally under the snow during these three months of winter.
The fall, with its chilly weather, is making me slightly nervous about the upcoming winter. I don't know why I feel this year's winter is going to be brutal. But for now, it's all turning very pretty with the fall colours. The bright yellow and red shines when the sun hits them.
The contrast between the start of October and the end of the month is wild. From lush green to bright oranges, yellows and reds, the valley I now call home has become so pretty.
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