[Fiction question] What kind of work is to be done on a New England farm in mid-November?

I live in Massachusetts, and I have been seeing a lot of gourds being harvested for cornucopias.

Getting ready for maple sugering . . .
Apples would have already been picked probably, but they may still be selling them.
Making cider could still be happening.

Cutting and splitting wood would continue to be happening (monotonously if wood were a serious source of heat for this farmer).

They could trim the goats hooves (not necessarily seasonal, just needs done)
Most harvesting would be already done and crops in (unless really bad rain prevented it for much of October).

Plowing is typically spring, but, depending on what crops they grew, they might have tilled everything under in the fall in 1968—no til being popular a good bit later unless
your farmer is an early environmentalist.

The gourd thing could also involve drying for later use as dippers and birdhouses.

The family could also have other sources of income (beekeeping, quilting, etc) which could involve some autumnal activity.

Corn husking for feed. The corn that was harvested in September would need to dry before being removed from the cob.

Clearing timber.

Also, if their are horses, tack to be cleaned and saddle-soaped.

In general, boots to be waterproofed (I think Neatsfoot oil might have been fairly popular in 1968 but would check that).

Many of the inside home/barn repairs would likely be saved up for November etc if they weren’t urgent earlier in the season,

Great! What tasks would be given to an unskilled volunteer, an extra pair of hands available for a short while and wanting to earn his keep? Do husking corn and chopping wood sound like that kind of task? (How do you husk corn for feed?)

@Jeruba, I found this. Perhaps you could make it a late harvest because of spring flooding, or something that would delay the growing season.

Here’s a VT Hog Farm in November, with pictures.

During October, guys on machines cut and bale the hay for winter feed. There are huge, round bales all over.

Cutting down damaged or dead trees, cutting into logs, splitting into firewood and kindling is a local business. Many people sell wood/cord and the rest (like me) buy it.

I have a young friend who recently took his pick-up (in VT.) to a local orchard and loaded it with the apples that had fallen on the ground. Then he and his gf made gallons of cider – both hard and soft -, quarts of applesauce, and tons of dried apples.

@PandoraBoxx, I couldn’t open your link. I forgot to mention that this is a vegetarian farm, so no hogs, but there are livestock for dairy products.

Back then, @gailcalled, weren’t the bales always rectangular?

what about making christmas wreathes for LL bean?

@Jeruba: Back then, I was living at 201 E, 77th St., NYC, so what do I know? Now here they are round, or rather, rolled, like toilet paper.

If there are leftover corn stalks, pumpkin vines, or whatever, in the field in the harvest, they might be cleared and burned. In A Year in Provence one of the farmers has a home-made wheelbarrow with a portable firepit in the bottom, and he goes up and down the fields gathering and burning grapevines as he goes. I don’t think we use a tool like that in America, though.

A lot of farmers would not plow the corn stalks under they would bundle them, I used to love the look of bundled corn stalks in the fields.

I used to help my grandpa shuck corn, he had a thing he stuck the ear on and then cranked it and the corn came off. Almost like an apple peeler.

Here, right now (this AM.) my father and son team are hunting deer with powder muskets. They eat the venison. I bet farmers and local country folk were doing the same thing in the 1960’s. There are mini-seasons and special licenses”: for long bow, muzzle-loading rifle, shotgun for:

Deer and Bear;
Turkey;
Small game
Furbearing Hunting
Waterfowl and Migratory Game Birds;

I can’t get this question out of my mind . . . (I also write fiction and love digging up the details I can use in my stories). I started focusing on the 1968 part of the question late last night . . . I was born in 1960 and missed being a leap baby by hours, so I am always aware of which are the leap years and 1968 was one of them. Not sure you can use it, but just another little detail.

The only things that I can think of that haven’t already been mentioned are the planting of garlic, which is generally planted in the fall and harvested in the late summer of the next year, and the planting of cover crops, or green manure.

Found a website that deals in old books . . . here is what they describe about the 1968 Farmer’s Almanac (should your farmers happen to have one lying about):

148 pages. Nice printing of Edgar A. Poe’s, “The Raven” including illustrations. Some pages of the almanac contain red ink to spice it up and there are even four pages of black and white lithographed photographs.

All sorts of things would have to be done. Take it from me, farming a constant process. you go out everyday, even if it is just to keep an eye on everything. A big thing would be to bring in the cows that are on pastures spread around the area, if it was not done already.