Core Insight
As fall leaves cover the ground at Iron Mountain Organics, I find myself wanting to put the beds to rest. The leaves are not just something to rake. They are a visual cue from nature that it is time to cover the soil before winter and to prepare for what comes next.
Most of the garden will sleep beneath those leaves or under a silage tarp. At the same time, I am going to attempt to grow lettuce in the high tunnel through the winter. That is an experiment, not a promise of a winter harvest. This will be going against nature, so wish me luck ;).
What I noticed is that some seasons call for renewal through resting rather than producing. Covering the beds is part of the work of preparing for the next season, even when there is nothing to harvest from them right now.
That gives me something to consider in my leadership at ThreeWill. Rather than asking every effort to keep producing, I can ask which work needs to continue and which can be set aside deliberately. The useful part is making that choice clear, including when to revisit it.
Three Concrete Details to Notice
1. The leaves are a cue, not clutter
When the ground fills with leaves, nature is showing me something about the work ahead. I am learning to notice that cue before treating the leaves as a mess to clean up. They point me toward covering the soil before winter, not simply tidying the garden.
2. Covering is active preparation
Putting beds under leaves or a silage tarp is not walking away from the garden. It is a deliberate step toward preparing for spring. The lettuce attempt in the high tunnel is a separate experiment; it does not change the plan to let most of the garden rest.
3. Make the next step clear at work
For me, a practical leadership step is to review current commitments with the team and choose what can wait. Name what will continue, what will pause, and when to check on the paused work again. That makes preparation a concrete decision rather than a vague hope that things will be better next season.
Simple Closing Thought
This fall I am trying to follow the cue the leaves are giving me and cover the soil before winter. Preparing for spring starts with deciding what the garden needs now, even when that means leaving most of it to rest.
Keep growing. Keep learning.
Farmer Tommy
This post first appeared on November 6, 2026 in Sowing Success, my weekly LinkedIn newsletter on leadership and organic farming. Read the original on LinkedIn.
