Leaves Turn Red in Fall for a Few Reasons

My dad and I were up on staging replacing second-floor windows when a deer family walked out into the garden. All summer long a doe and her two yearlings had been showing up, eating kale and Swiss chard and carrot tops. It was the first day of hunting season.

I asked my dad if he was going to try for the mom. He said, “If she turns and presents herself in a way I can get a clear shot at the heart.” She did.

This was the first time I’d ever witnessed the shooting of a mammal in person. And it would be the first time I dragged a dead animal out of the woods with the intent that it was going to be food and nourishment.

We followed the trail of blood through the woods. Leaves turn red in the fall for a couple of reasons. They turn red when they’re changing colors. But they also turn red from blood. Both represent death. Both also represent life. The dead leaves decompose and feed the forest. The blood represents the death of another being and the life it will sustain.

I felt deep sorrow for her. I also felt deep gratitude that she would be feeding us. This idea of taking life to sustain a life. I think this was one of the first times I truly experienced it firsthand.

The next day I went to a wild foods Thanksgiving. When everyone shared what they were grateful for, the host Arthur Haines said one word: death. The acknowledgment that our life depends on the death of another living being.

The disconnection from death is rooted in fear. The connection to the full cycle of life is rooted in love. These experiences with my dad are all threads. Building a bow. Saturday morning with the deer. They’re all about presence, connection, and what it means to show up.

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Learn more about the adventure at www.heart-strong.org