A tree line tinged in color at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park in southeastern Minnesota.
AUTUMN GRIPS ME like no other season.
Autumn reveals herself in fields ripening along Rice County Road 24 between Faribault and Kenyon, Minnesota.
She draws me into fields drying in russet shades,
Maples are flaming, like this one alongside Minnesota State Highway 60 on the east side of Faribault.
to maples flaming red,
An idyllic rural scene of drying soybeans and gravel road just off Rice County Road 24.
to the aged scent of earth and fire,
Bins await the new crop.
to the hope of a farmer
Soybeans ripe for harvest in Rice County.
and the end of the growing season.
Days of cobalt blue skies or pressing grey give way to evenings that welcome the flicker of candles, apple crisp warm from the oven, sweaters pulled on.
Drying cornfields herald the arrival of Autumn in southeastern Minnesota.
These days, as my flip flops crunch upon fallen leaves, I long to hold on to Autumn, to yank her away from Winter’s pull.
© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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