October is the month the valley eats. The rice patch is cut and threshed, the last of the summer vegetables come in, and the orchard, in its third and fourth years, starts to give back more than one family can use.
Harvest tables
Every autumn the learning centre sets long tables under the trees. What the valley grows, the valley eats together: rice from one plot, honey from another, guava and citrus from the orchards, goat from the shed. This is the tradition Zen Valley was built around, and it is the reason the plots are five kanal and not ten marla.
Sowing wheat
As the rice comes out, the wheat goes in. A household grain patch on five kanal is not a farm; it is a few hundred square feet that yields enough flour for a family through the year. The learning centre lends the tools and the knowledge. By the end of November the patch is green again.
Rice out, wheat in. The plot never really rests, and neither does the family.
Preparing for the cold
Autumn is when the beehives are checked and left with enough honey for winter, the compost heaps are turned, and the rainwater tanks are cleaned before the winter rains.
