On Smell

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.