Carly once said that my breath smelled like cold
garbage. After diverting my mouth I had
to take a moment to think about how that smelled. It smells pretty bad. Lately it is clear that cold has a
smell. The air smells cold, and the rain
brings up the smell of plants fighting to stay alive in the lateness of the
year. Essentially, everything is
dying. The same rain that brings life in
the spring is washing away and breaking apart the plants in the garden. Overlooked fruit rots. Leaves wither or fall off altogether. The rabbit hutches that were once pristine
and clean are now soiled with dirt that has been left from the run off from the
rain. The bale of straw that was spread
in the aviary to keep the mud under control has decomposed under the feet of
the ducks and now has an off-putting rotten smell.
Inside the house the frantic salvage of tomatoes has created
the smell of salsa a handful of times.
Tomatoes, onions, garlic, and peppers have the clean smell of being
freshly cut and then the combined complexity of being placed together. Once jarred they go into the pot where they
seal off until the fateful moment the smells are reintroduced before an
upcoming taco night.
Without the garden duties we also have undertaken a home
brewing project. For a minimal
investment we have started a few gallons of mead, honey wine. At first, the combination of honey and water
gave a subtle sweet fragrance that seemed to be a perfect pairing with the
citrus fruit we were going to mix with it.
Brewing is really quite easy, and after we combined those two
ingredients along with the activated yeast we were in the mead process. After a few hours the pressure from gasses
released by the yeast was too much for the small airlock. Sweet water burst all over the kitchen
table. The room filled with the smell of
chemical change. We rushed to recover
the bottle but not without first taking a taste of the concoction that’s in its
infancy. In subsequent days the brew
continued to bubble aggressively and I couldn’t help but notice the yeasty
smell in the kitchen.
Things have changed on the farm. New projects and new weather will bring every
fragrance out of nature and our industry.
It is a good exercise to sniff in the uniqueness of this season.
