ADIEU TO SUMMER
BY Bajda Welty
Fall season is all about the harvest! Feeling satiated by abundance and preparing for another winter to settle in. Time to ignite your inner fire.
Fall colors are red, orange, yellow and burgundy as seen among the blushing trees, falling leaves, ripe squash, berries and spawning salmon. Fall is brown, like the dying, dry foliage that reminds us that another year will soon end. It’s time to wind ourselves down in preparation to rest. The tomatoes are sauced, the berries are jammed, garlic and herbs are dried, potatoes are dug, beans are canned, cucumbers are pickled and honey is spun. This preparation for the season change is an important celebration of fall and insurance that we stay healthy during winter.
Imagine and celebrate the warmth and long productive days that the summer season delivered. Remember summer with pictures, cut flowers, herb-infused oils and bath salts to usher in the next season. Physically start to introduce warmth inside the body by eating foods we saved from summer, ingesting herbs we dried, brewing teas, making soups and roasting squash, potatoes and meats. This will support immune function for additional protection during cold and flu season and sustain high energy levels all winter.
If fall were a time of day, it might be afternoon. Hopefully, most of the hard work is done, and energy is bright but waning. The light is coming sideways into our eyes instead of from overhead and our brains and bodies feel fatigued. So, gather and finish your work, knowing that dinner and rest is fast approaching. Fall is the time of the moon cycle after the full moon. The peak has passed and completion is closer than at the beginning of the cycle. Fall is like the time of our lives when middle age has come and gone. Wisdom, self-awareness, confidence and perspective is the harvest. Gratitude and sharing the abundance of the harvest is the work at hand. We will mark fall with the Harvest Moon, Hunters Moon, Frost Moon and Cold Moon. Winter will blanket our island. The practice of change will carry us forward: change of season, change of body, change of thoughts and change of ideas.
Herb infused oil:
Place desired herbs in a glass jar. Fill ¾ of the jar with herbs. Examples are sage, lavender, thyme, basil, lemon balm, nettle, calendula, borage, comfrey, rose, mint, raspberry leaves, rosemary and bay. Fill jar with oil (olive, coconut, grapeseed or avocado), so it covers the herbs. Place lid on tightly. Let soak for two to three weeks. Strain out herb material and store in a dark place. Use in cooking, baths or directly on the skin.
To make bath salt, add infused oil to coarse sea salt and scoop into bath water.
To make herbal table salt, grind dried herbs and add to salt or softened butter. This can be added to meals or used in cooking.
