September

Poems, Quotes, Folklore
Sayings, Links, References
Ideas, Garden Chores

Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

Quotes  ...  Links  ... References  ...  Chores

Quotes

        The breezes taste
          Of apple peel.
The air is full
                Of smells to feel-
                  Ripe fruit, old footballs,
              Burning brush,
              New books, erasers,
                 Chalk, and such.
        The bee, his hive,
                      Well-honeyed hum,
       And Mother cuts
                     Chrysanthemums.
                       Like plates washed clean
                        With suds, the days
        Are polished with
                   A morning haze.
                                   -   September, John Updike

But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it
my possessiveness.  The sun warms my back instead of
beating on my head ... The harvest has dwindled, and I
have grown apart from the intense midsummer
relationship that brought it on."
-  Robert Finch

'Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone.

-   Thomas Moore, The Last Rose of Summer, 1830

                           Departing summer hath assumed
                 An aspect tenderly illumed,
                 The gentlest look of spring;
                             That calls from yonder leafy shade
                      Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
   A timely carolling.

                                -   William Wordsworth, September

Seasons and Time

Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and spring, 
for the air, the water, the verdure, and the song of birds.   
-   Carl von Linnaeus

Alas, that my heart is a lute,
Whereon you have learned to play!
For a many years it was mute,
Until one summer's day
You took it, and touched it, and made it thrill,
And it thrills and throbs, and quivers still!

-   Anne Barnard, My Heart is a Lute, 1815

Months

Sorrow and scarlet leaf,
Sad thoughts and sunny weather.
Ah me, this glory and this grief
Agree not well together!
-   Thomas Parsons, 1880, A Song For September

Lord, it is time. The summer was very big. Lay thy shadow on the sundials,
and on the meadows let the winds go loose. Command the last fruits that
they shall be full; give them another two more southerly days, press them
on to fulfillment and drive the last sweetness into the heavenly wine.
-     Rainer Maria Rilke
 

Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,
The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth
And you walk under the red light of fall
The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain
The sharp, gentle chill of fall.
Here as we move into the shadows of autumn
The night that brings the morning of spring
Come to us, Lord of Harvest
Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us ...
-  Autumn Equinox Ritual

Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a young and a callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow--follow, oh-oh
-  Try to Remember, Lyrics by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

Shine on, shine on harvest moon
Up in the sky,
I ain't had no lovin'
Since January, February, June or July
Sno Time ain't no time to stay
Outdoors and spoon,
So shine one, shine on harvest noon
For me and my gal.
-  By Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth, 1903

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always
been the two most beautiful words in the English language.
-  Henry James

In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year,
bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.
And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such
superb  colour effects as from August to November.
-   Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer.
-   Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885

Crown'd with the sickle, and the sheaten sheaf,
While Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain,
Comes jovial on.
-   James Thomson, Autumn, 1730

September means-
School,
Effort, and
Play.
Trying your best
Each hour of the day,
Making new friends,
Being good as you can
Exciting discoveries,
Reading books with a friend.

Under the harvest moon, 
When the soft silver 
Drips shimmering 
Over the garden nights, 
Death, the gray mocker, 
Comes and whispers to you 
As a beautiful friend 
Who remembers.
-  Carl Sandburg, Under the Harvest Moon

September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, 
evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret.
-   Alexander Theroux, 1981

               Further in Summer than the Birds
               Pathetic from the Grass
               A minor Nation celebrates
               Its unobtrusive Mass.

               No Ordinance be seen
               So gradual the Grace
               A pensive Custom it becomes
               Enlarging Loneliness.
                              
                               -   Emily Dickinson

Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, 
but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit, 
and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day.
-   John Donne, 1620

Spring scarce had greener fields to show than these
Of mid September; through the still warm noon
The rivulets ripple forth a gladder tune
Than ever in the summer; from the trees
Dusk-green, and murmuring inward melodies,
No leaf drops yet; only our evenings swoon
In pallid skies more suddenly, and the moon
Finds motionless white mists out on the leas.
-  Edward Dowden, In September

The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honor the Green Man, 
the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees.  Offerings of ciders, wines, 
herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time....  Mabon is considered a time 
of the Mysteries. It is a time to honor Aging Deities and the Spirit World....
-   Mabon by Akasha

The goldenrod is yellow
The corn is turning brown
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

-  Childrens song

There comes a time when autumn asks,
"What have you been doing all summer?"

Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the minds of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away
Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember how the stars stole the night away
-   September, Lyrics by Maurice White, Charles Stemney and Verdine White

Autumn - Quotes for Gardeners

All your renown is like the summer flower that
blooms and dies; because the sunny glow which
brings it forth, soon slays with parching power.
-   Dante Alighieri

I have come to a still, but not a deep center, 
A point outside the glittering current; 
My eyes stare at the bottom of a river, 
At the irregular stones, iridescent sandgrains, 
My mind moves in more than one place, 
In a country half-land, half-water. 
I am renewed by death, thought of my death, 
The dry scent of a dying garden in September, 
The wind fanning the ash of a low fire. 
What I love is near at hand, 
Always, in earth and air.
-  Theodore Roethke, The Far Field

I don't wanna say goodbye for the summer
Knowing the love we'll miss
Oh let us make a pledge to meet in September
And seal it with a kiss
Guess it's gonna be a cold lonely summer
But I'll fill the emptiness
I'll send you all my love every day in a letter
Sealed with a kiss.
-  Bobby Vinton

The morrow was a bright September morn;
The earth was beautiful as if newborn;
There was nameless splendor everywhere,
That wild exhilaration in the air,
Which makes the passers in the city street
Congratulate each other as they meet.
-   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Have a good time, but remember,
There is dander in the summer moon above.
Will I see you in September
Or loose you to a summer love.
-   S. Wayne and S. Edwards, 1959 lyrrics

What a pity flowers can utter no sound!—A singing rose, 
a whispering violet, a murmuring honeysuckle ...
oh, what a rare and exquisite miracle would these be! 
-   Henry Ward Beecher

September morn
Do you remember how we danced that night away
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
September morning still can make me feel this way
-   Neil Diamond and Gilbert Becaud

Happy we who can bask in this warm September sun, which illumines 
all creatures, as well when they rest as when they toil, not without a 
feeling of gratitude; whose life is as blameless, how blameworthy 
soever it may be, on the Lord’s Mona-day as on his Suna-day.
-   Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862

All good things vanish in less than a day,
Peace, plenty, pleasure, suddenly decay
Go not yet away, bright soul of the sad year,
The earth is hell when you leav'st to appear.

-   Thomas Nash, Summer's Last Will and Testament, 1600

Haiku and Zen Poetry

"The tale of Mabon of Modron, the Welsh God, (the "great son of the great mother"), 
also known as the Son of Light, the Young Son, or Divine Youth, is celebrated.  The 
Equinox is also the birth of Mabon, from his mother Modron, the Guardian of the 
Outerworld, the Healer, the Protector, the Earth. Mabon was taken after he is a 
mere three nights old (some variations of the legend say he is taken after three 
years).  Through the wisdom of the living animals -- the Stag, Blackbird, Owl, 
Eagle and Salmon -- Mabon is freed from his mysterious captivity.  All the while
Mabon had rested within his mother's womb; a place of nurturing and challenge. 
With strength and lessons gained within the magickal Outerworld (Modron's 
womb), Mabon is soon reborn as his mother's Champion, the Son of Light, 
wielding the strength and wisdom acquired during his captivity."
-  Joyous Mabon

Harvest home, harvest home!
We've plowed, we've sowed
We've reaped, we've mowed
And brought safe home
Every load.
-   Harvest Home Song 

      The golden-rod is yellow;
       The corn is turning brown;
        The trees in apple orchards
          With fruit are bending down.

           The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
          In dusty pods the milkweed
    Its hidden silk has spun.

                The sedges flaunt their harvest,
  In every meadow nook;
            And asters by the brook-side
    Make asters in the brook,

          From dewy lanes at morning
            The grapes' sweet odors rise;
        At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.

      By all these lovely tokens
     September days are here,
                With summer's best of weather,
         And autumn's best of cheer.

     But none of all this beauty
            Which floods the earth and air
    Is unto me the secret
            Which makes September fair.

             'T is a thing which I remember;
  To name it thrills me yet:
      One day of one September
I never can forget.
                         - Helen Hunt Jackson, September

The true beloveds of this world are in their lover's eyes 
lilacs opening, ship lights, school bells, a landscape, 
remembered conversations, friends, a child's Sunday, 
lost voices, one's favorite suit, autumn and all seasons, 
memory, yes, it being the earth and water of existence, memory.
-   Truman Capote

Tang of fruitage in the air; 
Red boughs bursting everywhere; 
Shimmering of seeded grass; 
Hooded gentians all a'mass. 
Warmth of earth, and cloudless wind 
Tearing off the husky rind, 
Blowing feathered seeds to fall 
By the sun-baked, sheltering wall. 
Beech trees in a golden haze; 
Hardy sumachs all ablaze, 
Glowing through the silver birches. 
How that pine tree shouts and lurches!
From the sunny door-jamb high,
Swings the shell of a butterfly.
Scrape of insect violins
Through the stubble shrilly dins.
Every blade's a minaret
Where a small muezzin's set,
Loudly calling us to pray
At the miracle of day.
Then the purple-lidded night
Westering comes, her footsteps light
Guided by the radiant boon
Of a sickle-shaped new moon.
-   Amy Lowell, Late September

I trust in Nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility.
Spring shall plant and Autumn garner
to the ends of time.
-   Robert Browning

The winter is forbidden till December
And exits March the Second, on the dot.
By order, summer lingers through September,
In Camelot.
Camelot, Camelot!
I know it sounds a bit bizarre,
But in Camelot, Camelot,
That's how conditions are.
- Camelot, Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

To many ancient people, the waning of the light signaled death. 
For example, in Welsh mythology, this is the day of the year when 
the God of Darkness, Goronwy, defeats the God of Light, Llew, and 
takes his place as King of the world. To this day in Japan, the equinox 
is celebrated by visits to the graves of family members, at which time 
offerings of flowers and food are made and incense is burned.  The 
three days preceding and following the equinox are called "higan," 
or the "Other side of the River of Death."
-   September Folklore

Leaves fall,
the days grow cold.
The Goddess pulls her mantle of Earth around Her
as You, O Great Sun God, sail toward the West
to the land of eternal enchantment,
wrapped in the coolness of night.
Fruits ripen,
seeds drip,
the hours of day and night are balanced.
-   Mabon Sabbat and Lore

September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours, 
but in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn.  
The cricket chirps in the noontide, making the most of what remains 
of his brief life. The bumblebee is busy among the clover blossoms 
of the aftermath, and their shrill and dreamy hum hold the outdoor 
world above the voices of the song birds, now silent or departed.
-   September Days   By Rowland E. Robinson, Vermont.  

T'is the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone.
-  Thomas Moore, 1779-1852, The Last Rose of Summer.

Spring flowers are long since gone.   Summer's bloom
hangs limp on every terrace.  The gardener's feet
drag a bit on the dusty path and the hinge in his
back is full of creaks.
-  Louise Seymour Jones

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here
With summer's best of weather
And autumn's best of cheer.
-  Author Unknown

Autumn arrives, array'd in splendid mein;
Vines, cluster'd full, add to the beauteous scene,
And fruit-trees cloth'd profusely laden, nod,
Complaint bowing to the fertile sod.
-   Farmer's Almanac, 1818

As lovely as soft bits of fragile crinkled silk,
These rosy blossoms, clustered thick 
Upon the heavy drooping boughs,
When shaken by a summer wind,
Drop down in swirling showers,
And drift awhile about the ground;
Then gathered into frothy heaps beneath the hedge,
They spread a frill of rosy lace around the green lawns edge.
-   Leda Clements, Crape Myrtle

September's Baccalaureate 
A combination is Of Crickets -- Crows -- and Retrospects 
And a dissembling Breeze 
That hints without assuming -- 
An Innuendo sear 
That makes the Heart put up its Fun 
And turn Philosopher.
-   Emily Dickinson, September's Baccalaureate

Come Roger and Nell,
Some Simpkin and Bell,
East lad with his lass hither come;
With singing and dancin,
And pleasure advancing,
To celebrate Harvest Home.
-  An Old English Harvest Song

I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden to my tongue,
as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words
like strengths or squinched,
many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps,
which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
in the silent, startled, icy, black language
of blackberry -- eating in late September.
- Gallway Kinnell, Blackberry Eating

Drink a toast to Dionysus, the God of wine and ecstasy - The son 
of the Moon!   Gather with friends to celebrate the vine with a bottle 
of good wine and good cheer.  Catch the Moon's reflection in your 
cup and raise it up in salutation.  Now drink in Her essence and 
feel the presence of the God and Goddess.
-  September, The Harvest Moon, Moon Lore

The definition of a Harvest Moon is: the full moon closest to the fall 
equinox.  The Harvest Moon was thus named because it rises 
within a half-hour of when the sun sets.  In early days, when farmers
had no tractors, it was essential that they work by the light of the 
moon to bring in the harvest.  This moon is the fullest moon of 
the year.  When you gaze at it, it looks very large and gives a lot 
of light throughout the entire night.  No other lunar spectacle 
is as awesome as the Harvest Moon.
Harvest Moon Lore

Tangled branches of
Shadowy hair
Wrinkle crisp lines
In the September air.

Black robins bobbing,
Dig out
From summer coarsen throats
A solitary song.
- Charlotte Ballard, The Maple Dances

September fattens on vines. 
Roses flake from the wall. 
The smoke of harmless fires drifts to my eyes.
This is plenty. This is more than enough.
-  Geoffrey Hill, September Song

The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
-  Autumn Leaves, Lyrics by Johnny Mercer and Jacques Prévert.

Taxi September along Jessore Road 
Oxcart skeletons drag charcoal load 
past watery fields thru rain flood ruts 
Dung cakes on treetrunks, plastic-roof huts 
Wet processions  Families walk 
Stunted boys  big heads don't talk 
Look bony skulls & silent round eyes 
Starving black angels in human disguise
-  Allen Ginsberg, September on Jessore Road

Rain, rain, welcome back,
We've missed your song,
Your splatter and smack
On our dusty brown clay, dry so long.
Since last May we've not had a drop,
From grey-black clouds swriling by,
Or smelled wet earth, or stepped in muddy slop,
Or listened to thunder from the sky.
-  Michael P. Garofalo, Valley Spirit Journal - September

There ought to be gardens for all months in the year,
in which, severally, things of beauty may be then in season.   
-  Sir Francis Bacon

Well, the sun’s not so hot in the sky today
And you know I can see summertime slipping on away
A few more geese are gone, a few more leaves turning red
But the grass is as soft as a feather in a featherbed
So I’ll be king and you’ll be queen
Our kingdom’s gonna be this little patch of green
Won’t you lie down here right now
In this September grass
Won’t you lie down with me now
September grass
-  James Taylor

"The Moon festival (also called the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn festival) 
falls on September 18th in the year 2005.  What is the Moon festival? 
Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, 
when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the 
Chinese celebrate "zhong qui jie." Children are told the story of the 
moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the 
moon's shadowed surface. The legend surrounding the "lady living 
in the moon" dates back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns 
appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer, 
Hou Yi, to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomp-
lished, the Goddess of the Western Heaven rewarded the archer with 
a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife, Chang Er, found 
the pill, took it, because Hou Yi was a tyrant, and was banished to the 
moon as a result. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day 
of the Moon festival. 

Today, Chinese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival with dances, 
feasting and moon gazing. Not to mention mooncakes.  While baked 
goods are a common feature at most Chinese celebrations, mooncakes 
are inextricably linked with the Moon festival. Roughly the size of a human 
palm, these mooncakes are quite filling, meant to be cut diagonally 
in quarters and passed around."

Moon Festival

Moon Festival

Moon Festival Legends

Lyric night of the lingering Indian Summer,
Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing,
Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects,
Ceaseless, insistent.
The grasshopper's horn, and far-off, high in the maples,
The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence
Under a moon waning and worn, broken,
Tired with summer.
-  Sarah Teasdale, September Midnights

I can hear
September's
leaf
following
me
down
the asphalt
surface
of Locust Street
cartwheeling
on pins
when suddenly,
it stops --
just
to see
if I'll turn
to look.

Autumn begins with a subtle change in the light, with skies 
a deeper blue, and nights that become suddenly clear and 
chilled.  The season comes full with the first frost, the 
disappearance of migrant birds, and the harvesting of 
the season's last crops.
-   Glenn Wolff and Jerry Dennis

The leaves of brown came tumblin' down, remember
In September in the rain
The sun went out just like a dying ember
That September in the rain.
To every word of love I heard you whisper
The raindrops seemed to play a sweet refrain.
-  September in the Rain, Lyrics by Warren and Dubin

September leaf
Blushing...
Remembering...
The torrid kisses
...Of July
September leaf
Sensing winter
....And oblivion
Shivers...
And whispers
"July, my only love" "Say you remember."
- LaRetha Adams, Before Winter

Not every man has gentians in his house in soft September, at slow, sad Michaelmas.
Bavarian gentians, big and dark, only dark darkening the daytime, torch-like, with the
smoking blueness of Pluto's gloom, ribbed and torch-like, with their blaze of darkness
spread blue down flattening into points, flattened under the sweep of white day
torch-flower of the blue-smoking darkness, Pluto's dark-blue daze, black lamps from
the halls of Dis, burning dark blue, giving off darkness, blue darkness, as Demeter's
pale lamps give off light, lead me then, lead the way.
-   D. H. Lawrence, Bavarian Gentians

"September starts with Labor Day when goldenrod are
in full bloom and the crops are being gathered.  It's harvest time
on farms, when entire families helps in an intergenerational
enterprise.  We hasten in anticipation of autumn chill and a
possible early frost.  The heavier mists now hang over the valleys
reminding us each morning that days are warm, but nights are cooler
than the temperature of rivers, lakes and ponds.  Work, even garden
work, includes beating the frost and a mutual sacrifice."

"The birds flock in the evening and nature seems to anticipate
what is in store.  We pick elderberries for pie, press cider, deep
freeze the grapes and continue to use the solar food dryer for
beans and apples.  We notice that the late tomatoes have a
different taste this month.  In the more even temperature of the
month the peppers seem to fill the stalks miraculously with each
passing day and hang heavy in yellows and greens and reds and
purples.  Butternut and winter squash are ready to store; we
prepare the greenhouse for the first transfers as frost approaches.
We trample the late summer woods nearby and find the acorns now
falling from the oak trees.  We taste the most exquisite of all
fruit in the wild, the wild plum.  And we hear the reports of
hunters -- fathers and sons and daughters bonding by bringing home
a mess of squirrel.  We see deer and rabbit and raccoon as well and
hear the gobbling of the wild turkeys.  Yes, this is September."
-   Al Fritsch, S. J., Spiritual Growth Through Domestic Gardening

There was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.

They took a plough and plough'd him down,
Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead.

But the cheerful Spring came kindly on,
And show'rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris'd them all.

The sultry suns of Summer came,
And he grew thick and strong;
His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.

The sober Autumn enter'd mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Show'd he began to fail.

His colour sicken'd more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.

They've taen a weapon, long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then tied him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie.

They laid him down upon his back,
And cudgell'd him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
And turned him o'er and o'er.

They filled up a darksome pit
With water to the brim;
They heaved in John Barleycorn,
There let him sink or swim.

They laid him out upon the floor,
To work him farther woe;
And still, as signs of life appear'd,
They toss'd him to and fro.

They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,
The marrow of his bones;
But a miller us'd him worst of all,
For he crush'd him between two stones.

And they hae taen his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.

John Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
'Twill make your courage rise.

'Twill make a man forget his woe;
'Twill heighten all his joy;
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
Tho' the tear were in her eye.

Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland!
-  Robert Burns, John Barleycorn, 1782

Happily we bask in this warm September sun,
Which illuminates all creatures...
-  Henry David Thoreau

September

Links and References

Annie's Month of September

An Annotated & Illustrated Collection of Worldwide Links to Mythologies,
Fairy Tales & Folklore, Sacred Arts & Sacred Traditions.   By Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D.  

Apples and Apples Trees in Western European Myths, Legends and Folklore  

Apple History

Apples - A Teacher's Cyberguide

Autumn - Poems, Quotes, Folklore, Songs, Sayings, and Ideas for Gardeners   

Autumn Festivals in India

Autumn Greetings, Customs and Lore    Mythology Myth*ing Links: Autumn Equinox  
A 60K list of carefully selected and informatively annotated links about mythology.  

Ballad of John Barleycorn

Can Teach: Songs and Poems - Fall

Cuttings - September     Short poems by Michael P. Garofalo.   

Autumn Equinox: The Enchantment of Mabon.  By Ellen Dugan.  Woodbury, Minnesota, Llewellyn Publications, 2005.  Bibliography, index, 208 pages.  ISBN:  0738706248.  VSCL. 

Fall Harvest Page

Gardening Quotations - The Gay Gardener

Gardening Poems - The Gay Gardener

Gardening Poems and Verse  

Green Way Weblog   By Mike Garofalo.

Harvest Moon Page  

Harvest Moon Poems   

Harvest Moon - Wikipedia

John Barleycorn - Wikipedia

Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman)    Born September 26, 1774.

Joyous Mabon   

Leo's Lyrics Database

Lore and Magick of the Harvest  Asherah

Lore for September   Blue Corn Maiden and the Coming of Winter.  
American Indian lore.

Mabon by Akasha  

Mabon - Overview by Christina   

Moon Festival - China

Moon Festival - China

Moon Festival Legends - China

Onward to Autumn   

Origins of Labor Day

A Poem a Day     By Helen H. Moore.   180 Thematic Poems and Activities that Teach
and Delight All Year Long.  Scholastic, 1999.  ISBN: 0590294334.   136 pages.

Poem Hunter - September

Poetry for Fall

Poetry for Summer

Quotes for Gardeners.   Over 2,700 quotes arranged by over 130 topics.

Mrs. Ritter's First Grade Critters - September   

September Folklore   

September Holidays

September Holidays   

September Holidays and Celebrations  Compiled by Sue LaBeau.  

September Holidays, Observances, Facts   

September Poem Hunter

September Romance Tips

Solar Calendar: Liturgy and Folklore (Rorian Tradition)

The Spirit of Gardening

Summertime and Spiritual Practices

Summer - Quotes, Poems, Sayings and Quips for Gardeners   

Summertime Poetry   

Temples of John Barleycorn

Valley Spirit Journal - September By Mike Garofalo.

Wicca - Mabon Harvest  (Google Links)

Women's Poetry About Summer

September Garden Chores

Red Bluff, North Sacramento Valley, California, USA

USDA Zone 9

Typical Weather for Our Area

Removing dead and non-productive vegetable crops. 
Apply manure and compost to clay soils.  
Planting crops for late autumn harvest:  cabbages, peas, fennel,
     cauliflower, lettuce, swiss chard, onions, leeks, Chinese peas, and endive.  
Drying peppers and squash.
Start new strawberry beds.  
Dig up and divide garlic, perennials, iris, daylilies,  bulbs and onions.
Keep watering properly even as the weather begins to cool.  
Clean up all dead fruit.  
Fruit trees fed and sprayed with tonics. 
Seed lawns with rye grass for winter color.  
Remove any dead shrubs or trees.   
Dig holes for planting trees and shrubs.  
Purchase potted trees and shrubs for planting in autumn.  
Continue to mulch trees and shrubs.
Raking fallen leaves and add to compost pile.  
Purchase bulbs from nurseries.  
Feed lawn with slow release fertilizer. 
Remove spent blooms from roses.  
Weed vegetables and shrubs, mow lawns.  
Start to prepare sheds, tools, and equipment for Winter weather.
Repair roofs.  

September Gardening Chores and Tips

Oregon State University September Tips

Earth Wise Creations September Tips - Zone 9

Seasonal Garden Chores - Links - About.Com Guide

Top Garden Projects for September in the Pacific Northwest by Ed Hume

52 Weeks in the California Garden by Richard Smaus

September Gardening Tips from Ortho

The Garden Helper Tips for September - Northern U.S.

Gardening Tips - September - New York Botanical Garden

Tips from the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County, California

Tips Month by Month Gardening Chores List by Dale Reid (All Zones)

Farmer Fred's Monthly Gardening Chores for Central California

The Gay Gardner - September

September Garden Chores - Links - Google

3 September 2006