AUTUMN

Spring goes into summer covertly; summer appears as if by accident and, for a long time, does not lose many properties of spring. Also, the entire early autumn permeated with the summer mood. Yet, there is something new from the upcoming season at any time of day. Nature seemed to establish a reliable and quiet force of tradition.
 Rhythm shows in repetition, in the annual change of one thing by another, but these repetitions are not monotonous. On the contrary, these repetitions are always different because a maturing man continuously changes. The very novelty here is rhythmic. The symmetry and harmonious world order could be explained by the rhythm. Where there is novelty and harmony, beauty is inevitable, which cannot appear from nothing without tradition and selection.
So, thanks to harmony, rhythm, and a people's peculiar relation to rural labour, it has acquired its aesthetics as something inseparable from other parts of life.
Using the skills polished over centuries, a physically weak man who knows how to mow cuts more hay in a day than a not-very-bright, strong man. But if the age-old skills add to his talent, the mower is not just a mower; he has a personality, a creator. To work beautifully is not only easier but more enjoyable. Talent and work are inseparable. The labour burden is insurmountable for incompetent workers; it quickly gives an aversion to work. That is why slowness, similar in appearance to usual laziness, and good luck of the talented person sometimes cause envy and misunderstanding of mediocre people who spare neither strength nor time.
True beauty and usefulness are also interrelated: those who can mow more beautifully, just as someone who knows how to do carpentry beautifully, build bigger and better, and do not pursue the stretched dollar.
As a natural phenomenon, the work of a peasant is not all sharply divided by the seasons. For some (primarily weather-related) reasons, they are not finished in the summer; some tasks are gradually completed in the autumn. Still, if not finished in the autumn, they are completed in the winter. Yet, it is better to thresh just after the harvesting, not to procreate extra mice and to allow time, for example, for carpentry.
It is best to scutch flax right away and spread it out quickly so it can lie under the autumn dews and be removed in time before the first snow. In the fall, during the dry Indian summer, it is necessary to harvest everything from the field, including straw, so as not to regret it when the rains begin.
When work in the fields has been completed, it is not a sin to go to the woods and pick mushrooms. Berries are not the last thing in peasant life, particularly for children and women. (The first strawberries are for the children, especially the youngest ones.) The bigger the harvest of berries, the higher the age children can enjoy.
Bilberries are also available in the summer. This berry is harvested for real; it is, like all others, not only medicinal but also delicious. Raspberry, currant, and cloudberry are collected along the way with the grain harvesting. People travel on horseback from many villages to pick up blueberries and cranberries.
 Rural inhabitants must dig potatoes during the dry season, put them in the cellar, root them up, and cut onion and garlic. Then, during long rains, turnips and swedes are pulled; swedes appeared in our region in the late nineteenth century. (It was nicknamed "Holland a" because of its foreign origin.) Swede is pulled out of the ground and is cleaned of roots with the knife, piled in a heap, then brought under the roof and cut-off tops. The tops are hung on a perch in the autumn, and winter is an excellent dressing for cow mash. The cabbage whites in the beds until the frosts, but it is finally harvested. To cut out, peel and chop thinly or by "dice," i.e., halved cabbage heads, is not challenging and sometimes very joyful work; cabbage squeaks in the hands like just brand new rubber galoshes. Everybody munches on cabbage white cores.
In the fall, in the early morning, the knocking of threshing flails and smells of smoke are heard far around. The stacks get enclosed. Now, the cattle are grazing in the fields, and the shepherd has received his pay from the village and will rest. He is free until the new spring.
Many men do autumn plowing. Women raise flax and put it on the end so it gets dry, but it still needs to be linen but flax hay. The flax is fastened with straw plaits in large bales and moved under the roof.
Once the first frost hits, people reduce the cattle and slaughter extra sheep and calves so as not to waste hay. In the winter, they will be left only animals for breeding. Heads of young cocks are chopped. Headless birds shy away to the side, sprinkled with blood on the porch or firewood; some even take off and are relatively high. Not everyone can tolerate such a spectacle. Some men call a neighbour to slaughter a sheep. Such a man's weakness is forgivable; people pretend they don't notice it. Because of the blood of animals of the same colour as the man...
During the autumn holiday, young people already walk in the pitch dark, but without the presence of mosquitoes—torturers.