At Patterdale Hall, the work never ends for village residents Chris Wyatt and his wife Karen Russell. (Submitted photo)
The Patterdale Hall Diaries | Lengthen night, shorten day
- Published: November 20, 2025
By Chris Wyatt
Sept. 27, 2025
A beautiful Midwest morning out at the Hall. I woke at sunrise and a mist was hanging over the cornfields. Very pretty indeed.
I went for a drive to get coffee and listened to a new album by Kieran Hebden and William Tyler: “41 Longfield Street Late ’80s.” It’s lovely. I’ve loved Hebden’s music for over 20 years now, beginning with his album “Pause,” which was labeled in the “folktronica” genre. He is Four Tet and has been headlining major festivals all summer, but this new album is very tranquil — with occasional noise — and fits well as a soundtrack to watching birds fly through layers of mist as the sun rises.
Today I will do some tidying at the Hall. A little mowing, and the squash needs bringing under control. We let the squash go crazy and have reaped the rewards: milkcrate loads of delicata and butterkins. Now though, we need to cut the vines back and clear the space where they grew. It was a successful experiment in allowing chaos to occur, but a little order needs to be enforced before winter hits. I’ll leave some chaos though, as the critters do love it. Our tomatoes are also having their last hurrah, and so they will be picked over for the last pound or two of grape Juliets later today.
Teaching is hitting its stride, and I will be teaching four classes beginning next week. They are all subjects I know well and enjoy, so I’m looking forward to the challenge. I do love teaching.
Oct. 4, 2025
It is raining leaves on Patterdale Avenue — a magical sight. It’s Saturday today and as usual, I am up at the crack of dawn. I’ll pop out to the Hall after I have walked the dog. Several branches have fallen out of the walnut trees and so I’ll cut them up with loppers and the forest axe. This will be kindling for several days of fire.
October is very much a “prepare for winter” month. The weather is still glorious, but fall is now upon us, and I need to gather as much wood as possible.
We are nowhere near the time where I blow all the water out of the pipes in the house — that won’t happen until early December. Really, it’s the fire I have to think about. We didn’t order any wood this year and will see if we can get through with what we have. What we have is a pile of split walnut, maple and a few bits of Osage.
Our apple tree, however, is finally dying. It collapsed in the first year that we owned the property, fruited massively and then produced nothing this year. Its leaves fell off a month ago, and I’ll wait for it to get properly cold then cut it up with the chainsaw. It’s a big tree and will need at least a year to dry before we can use the wood for anything. I really don’t want to burn it all, we have good woodworkers in town that could always use apple wood, and it is my favorite wood to smoke food with.
Oct. 9, 2025
It rained incredibly heavily two days ago and trashed all the remaining crops. I’ll work to bring them in today. There are only a few squashes left, and they are pretty rain resistant.
Karen has been digging and has built a greenhouse into the side of a slope. It’s substantial, and today she and Katie Rose will work on setting up a small woodburning stove to keep it toasty as the temperatures drop.
The temperatures are dropping. I can tell this as my car and office are full of hoodies that I have taken off as the day progresses — cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon. Hoodies in the morning, T-shirts in the afternoon.
Fall break is happening now so the students get two days off. Such generosity. I will go in today and finish grading, then tomorrow proctor a final student who was ill during a midterm exam. I also need to make some worksheets for my human physiology class. I’ve not used worksheets before, but foreshadowing the exam questions does make sense and will hopefully improve grades. Although, to be fair students usually do well in my sections — cardiovascular and respiratory.
Oct. 14, 2025
The weather is idyllic.
Oct. 17, 2025
Chili cook-off season has begun. Branch and Bone Artisan Ales’ chili cook-off is on Sunday, and I got one of the coveted spots. Only 12 entries are accepted — an elite crowd.
“Dr Scoville’s Fever Dream” is a spicy beef and bean chili: 2.2 pounds of cubed chuck steak and one pound of ground chuck are mixed with onions, celery, Yellow Springs Brewery’s Handsome Brown Ale, crushed tomatoes, cinnamon, cumin, Anaheim chili powder, smoked scorpion peppers, smoked Carolina reapers, smoked salt, bay leaves, Rio Zape beans, red beans and maybe a bit more celery.
It should be pretty spicy; I’ve not cooked with reapers before, so I am being a little cautious. There’s a prize for “People’s Choice” — no way I’ll win that with this beast. Hopefully the panel of Best in Show judges like spice. It’s very, very spicy. I may have to add more beans.
I enjoy the exercise of writing. Even putting streams of consciousness down gives my kids and maybe their future kids a glimpse into my days. Whilst those days might not be thrilling, they are documented. Most days are pedestrian at best, but something pretty magical happens every day — you just have to be fully awake. Watch what happens around you. The corn is fully ripe, it’s poking out of its husks, I’ve never seen that before, it’s new to me. I wrote it down.
*Originally from Manchester, England, Chris Wyatt is an associate professor of neuroscience, cell biology and physiology at Wright State University. He has lived in Yellow Springs for 17 years, is married and has two children and an insane Patterdale terrier. “The Patterdale Hall Diaries” by Chris Wyatt is now available in book format via Amazon for $11.99.
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