Each morning I am delighted by the slight chill in the air that whispers, “Autumn is near.” This new season beckons to me gently as I slide deeper beneath the covers, content that with every passing day, I tread nearer to my favorite season. The season of warm bread and comforting soups and evenings by the fire and slowing down.
To celebrate the passage from one season to the next, my friend Cait and I co-hosted an intimate Autumn Equinox gathering. I spent much of the week dispelling our home of the stagnant energy lingering from Summer’s end and baking Autumn themed treats for our guests. This included roasted pumpkin sourdough bread and a dairy-free pumpkin shaped bundt cake. Both turned out exceptionally well, evoking the spiciness of the season as cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves danced on our tongues and clung to our lips.
Crafts were on the agenda for the day. More specifically, we planned to use this day of celebrating the second harvest to capture the last remaining offerings of Summer in cloth. Cait showed us all how to carve potatoes, chop bok choy, and slice okra in order to use their natural, beautiful shapes to print onto canvas bags.
As for myself, I helped our small group explore the unpredictability and beauty of dyeing with natural materials. We picked fresh goldenrod blooming in the garden and scattered dried marigolds and cosmos from Summer’s past across fabrics I had spent the week treating with homemade soy milk. We played with scrunching up our fabrics and dipping them whole into dye baths made from avocado skins set over a warming fire. A fire that I learned to build properly that very day thanks to one of our friends who is a proper outdoorsman.\
As the day drew to a close, we smelled of smoke and spices and Summer’s end. With the last of the guests departed (and my energy along with them), the passage of my own, internal seasons had officially shifted. The bubbly, outgoing, energetic version of myself that so often occupies the warmer months has officially packed their bags to be replaced by the contemplative, quiet, soothing counterpart.
Until next time,
Brittani