At this point in the season, we’ve started to notice a shift in the light. It has a bit of a different color tone. The humidity is tapering off and the shift in the tilt of the Earth means that our long days are giving way to longer nights. I’ve always been a summer baby. I love the go-go-go of the summer, the hot days, and the firefly-illuminated nights. However, this year - the year where nothing makes sense - I’m so excited for the crisp days of fall. I’m excited for the slower rhythm, the warmer foods, and the natural shift into introspection that fall provides for us. This will be made official next week when we celebrate the Autumnal Equinox, the moment when the Sun crosses the Equator. And for the next three months, we will begin to experience more darkness than daylight. The crops will start to slow down, the birds will fly south, and the temperatures will begin to wane. This all sounds a bit depressing, but there are also so many wonderful gifts of the Autumnal Equinox that have this summer baby so excited!
Whether we like it or not, we humans are still fundamentally wild animals (honestly, I spent last weekend with my nieces and nephews and I don’t find this wild animal thing hard to believe at all). And as animals, we still have the need to align with the Earth’s natural rhythms. As the natural energy around us starts to slow down, so too does our own personal energy. With shorter days and longer nights, we are more likely to allow ourselves to cave into the sluggishness that each of us craves from time to time. Autumn is a great time to start to focus the energy inward and begin to act introspectively. It’s essential to do a bit of emotional housekeeping both for yourself and your family and the slow, steadiness of fall is the perfect time to do it.
The Autumnal Equinox is also a great time to think about all we achieved this summer, to be grateful for it, and to recognize how it will work to support us through the winter. This is a bit more of a tangible exercise in farming, as a few of our accomplishments, as well as shortcomings, are right there in the field for us to see. We’re so grateful for what the summer has brought us, both in the field as well as in our community. Although it was a very unpredictable summer, and our accomplishments weren’t quite what we thought they’d be, we’ve all accomplished so much. Next week, as our days cross over into longer nights, think about all the ways you’ve changed this past spring and summer and how it can all help you into this fall and winter and let us know how you celebrate the return of long nights!