The first-fruits of the leafy harvest.

August 28. 

August 28, 2018

Soaking rain last night, straight down. 

When the wind stirs after the rain, leaves that were prematurely ripe or withered begin to strew the ground on the leeward side. Especially the scarlet leaves of the cultivated cherry are seen to have fallen. Their change, then, is not owing to drought, but commonly a portion of them ripens thus early, reminding us of October and November. 

When, as I go to the post-office this morning, I see these bright leaves strewing the moist ground on one side of the tree and blown several rods from it into a neighboring yard, I am reminded that I have crossed the summit ridge of the year and have begun to descend the'other slope. The prospect is now toward winter. 

These are among the first-fruits of the leafy harvest. 

The sharp whistling note of a downy woodpecker, which sounds rare; perhaps not heard since spring.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, August 28, 1858


These are among the first-fruits of the leafy harvest. See August 29, 1852 (The first leaves begin to fall; a few yellow ones lie in the road this morning, loosened by the rain and blown off by the wind.")

I have crossed the summit ridge of the year and have begun to descend the other slope. See August 18, 1853 (" as if the rest of the year were down-hill "); July 15, 1854 ("We seem to be passing a dividing line between spring and autumn, and begin to descend the long slope toward winter"); July 28, 1854 (“ . . . having as it were attained the ridge of the summer, commenced to descend the long slope toward winter, the afternoon and down-hill of the year”) ; August 5, 1854 ("It is one long acclivity from winter to midsummer and another long declivity from midsummer to winter.")

The sharp whistling note of a downy woodpecker. See September 17, 1852 ("I hear the downy woodpecker whistle, and see him looking about the apple trees as if to bore him a hole."); December 5, 1853 ("See and hear a downy woodpecker on an apple tree. Have not many winter birds, like this and the chickadee, a sharp note like tinkling glass or icicles?"); January 5, 1860 ("I see where the downy woodpecker has worked lately by the chips of bark and rotten wood scattered over the snow, though I rarely see him in the winter. Once to-day, however, I hear his sharp voice, ");