To tell the truth, October on the farm is a ragged month. Don’t get me wrong: closing in on the end of the season after seven months of intense work is surely satisfying, as is seeing the yields of all that work packed into the CSA boxes week after week. But eventually everything shows the strain. Now is when farms often experience equipment breakdowns and employee meltdowns (thankfully, neither have happened here this season), and now is when I really begin to feel the weight of the season in my body, all those accumulated stresses and strains manifesting in various repetitive stress injuries. Sometimes it shows up in my wrists, and sometimes my shoulders. This season, it’s in my feet, likely plantar fasciitis, so a post-season trip to the doctor is on the docket, with ibuprofen and ice in the meantime. Which is fine: I chose this vocation, so I won’t complain. But I will say that I don’t know how those farmers who do year-round CSAs are able to pull it off while keeping their bodies, minds, sanity, and marriages intact. There’s something good and true about embracing the rhythm of the season, from the eagerness and energy of spring, the madness and bounty of summer, the weariness and satisfaction of fall, and finally the rest and regeneration of winter, and then on again through the cycle, a steady and reliable wheel, rolling on down though the years.