Pumpkins ripe and over-flowing growing fields are a welcome sign of fall.
Pumpkins symbolize the richness of the end of harvest season and the celebration of Halloween.
Few of us ask how the pumpkin assumed this role but it appears to have been a result of a number of Irish traditions having to do with use of jack-o-lanterns to frighten away evil spirits and welcome the souls of the departed.
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Pumpkins symbolize the richness of the end of harvest season and the celebration of Halloween.
A more benevolent interpretation could be that the pumpkin is simply a beautiful symbol of the harvest season and delicious in pies to boot.
Another natural fall occurrence is the maturation and migration of monarch butterflies, which are heading to Mexico for the winter where they spend a quiet period at high altitudes.
They do not individually make the entire journey but produce a number of generations, which collectively travel the distance.
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William Dunson, Ph.d., professor emeritus of biology at Penn State University, splits time between Southwest Florida and his farm in Galax, Va. He can be reached at wdunson@comcast.net.
This time of year monarch adults fly more or less in a southerly direction, and stop to drink nectar from fall-blooming flowers such as the various asters in bloom this time of year.
Examine milkweed plants in fields and you will find some last-stage monarch caterpillars nearing their time of pupation and subsequent emergence as beautiful butterflies. Farmers may be less than happy about all those milkweed plants, which are poisonous to livestock, but milkweeds are the only source of food for the caterpillar of America's favorite butterfly.
