ORGANIZE YOUR YEAR SEPTEMBER

Organize digital photos from summer

Pick raspberries

Plant cool-weather greens

Schedule winter furnace service before weather turns cold

Go on a road trip for the holiday weekend

Soak up the sun at a beach, lake, or watering hole

LABOR DAY

(first Monday of September)

Clean fans and store portable ones

Garden

Harvest fresh herbs (page 64)

Update the family calendar with important dates now that school has started

Pick hot peppers and string them to dry; or make hot-pepper jelly

Garden

Plant spring bulbs in pots (page 64)

Visit a local winery during harvest season (now through early October)

Clean

Swap out seasonal items (page 65)

Scrub porch floors, ceiling, and walls

Harvest the last of the tomato crops, then pull up the plants and compost them

Clean and ready all bird feeders for fall and winter; order bird seed from Audubon

ROSH HASHANAH BEGINS AT SUNDOWN*

(163 days from first day of Passover)

Clean

Ready the kitchen for fall (page 66)

ROSH HASHANAH ENDS AT SUNDOWN

Take the family on a hike

Bring potted plants back inside, if necessary

FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN*

Cook

Prepare a hearty soup (page 66)

Rake the first fall leaves; aerate and seed the lawn

Divide and plant perennials (bearded iris, hosta, phlox, rudbeckia)

Cook

Pick apples; update apple pie (page 67)

YOM KIPPUR BEGINS AT SUNDOWN

(9 days after the first day of Rosh Hashanah)

YOM KIPPUR ENDS AT SUNDOWN

Kids

Plan ahead for school lunches (page 67)

Install storm windows

*ROSH HASHANAH Observed on the first two days of the Hebrew month Tishrei, which can occur anytime between September 5 and October 5.

*FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN Usually falls between September 21 and September 24 in the northern hemisphere.