October 2025 Backyard Bulletin

Cover photo by Bridger Layton.

View the full edition at this link.

October is the month when we step collectively out of the real world and into an art museum. With careful attention to light, shadow, and color, a still life painter extracts drama from something as simple as a few apples on a table. I'd argue that Mother Nature does the same this time of year with our landscape. Light hits the grassy hills at a lower angle and reveals previously invisible undulations. Meanwhile, the leaves gradually transition and new layers of color add depth to what was once a mass of green. Just as Paul Cézanne painted apples over and over and over again, finding new stories each time, Mother Nature makes an annual ritual of painting the land. The image is always similar but never the same; the turning of leaves is reliable but the annual brush strokes are ephemeral. You live in an art museum, and this grand exhibition goes into the archives in just four short weeks. Don't forget to pause and take it all in!

-Bridger Layton, Education Programs Manager