Hey howdy, and thank you for visiting with us! Recently, I have been thinking about fall visits to my uncle’s farm as a small boy years ago. Enjoying beautiful November Autumns in the countryside.
We just went thru a much below-average cold spell the past week, feeling more like
January than October with overnight lows down to 22F each night. Early morning walks with my little chihuahua (bundled in a sweater) at 26F. The grass and fallen leaves were covered in frost and I could see my breath in the air. My kind of morning!
We are warming back up now to more temps above normal for the next few days before another cold front comes thru and brings it all back down again mid-week. But such is the rollercoaster month of November here in this part of the Midwest each year.
One of my Mother’s favorite poems and one I became more familiar with in school years ago was “When The Frost Is On the Punkin”, by James Whitcomb Riley.
The poem 
is another one of those things that suddenly popped into my head a few days ago when we had the frosty weather and mornings here during the cold snap.
“Put your jacket on this morning, “the frost is on the punkin,” my Mother would say as I was gathering my things for school.
As those who follow me here and on Facebook know, from May to October I struggle to survive each Summer, and am all about Autumn. I love the crisp, invigorating air of frosty morning walks and drives thru the countryside in the fall.
Accordingly, I enjoy the manner in which the “When The Frost Is On the Punkin” poem was written, in such a colorful, rural vernacular style. It just seems to perfectly suit the theme and in my mind transports me back to beautiful, crisp, and frosty mornings on my uncle’s farm in the country years ago.
So, sharing the poem below with everyone, as it seems so appropriate for this Autumn time of the year when days grow shorter, the sun highlights hillsides dazzling in golds and reds, fallen leaves carpet the meadows, the scent of woodsmoke fills the evening air, and frost is on the grass. And pumpkins.
“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, bareheaded, 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 over-head!—
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 gethered, 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!
Thank you for visiting with us today!
Autumn and leading into the Holiday Season is my favorite time of year, and I hope you 
enjoy these seasonally-themed posts and are able to venture into the outdoors now and then to also experience the joys of Autumn for yourself!
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