In the past few weeks, temperatures have dipped below zero a few times, gracing the early morning landscape with frost. It makes the air crisp and refreshing.
The leaves have clung to the trees fairly well in spite of a few days of high winds. In fact, the day I planted my Midgarden garlic (update coming soon), most of the leaves were still attached to the branches of the Horse Chestnut that hung over the end of the bed. That night, we reach -2 degrees Celsius. Heavy frost greeted us at dawn. Walking into the garden, I was shocked to see about 1/3 of the leaves from the huge tree had fallen and blanketed the ground, burying one end of the garlic bed in a thick layer.
A few days later, another 1/3 of the leaves fell off. Within a week, only a few remained on the horse chestnut.
The bare branches revealed what had lay hidden all summer. While birds sang, perched and flew through the garden, I didn’t know one had nested above where I toiled in the soil.
A walk around the property revealed other nests, some small, some large. I didn’t find any hummingbird nests this year, but I have in the past.
Each season holds wonders. It is up to us to find and appreciate them even on bleak days of grey clouds with a rain storm rolling in.
Stay wild. Stay free.
Several bluejays followed me on my walk. Here’s one.
Diane McGyver 
I love finding nests among the bare tree branches in the fall. I enjoyed this post, Diane, It really captures a slice of Autumn in Nova Scotia. (I have never seen a hummingbird nest but would love to one day!)
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Thanks, Laura. Hummingbird nests, as you would guess, are small. An egg would fit into it nicely. The last one I found was in the privet plant in the corner of our property. I don’t trim the shrub, so it grows about 5 feet wide and 8 feet tall.
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