Don’t be afraid to ‘fall’ in love again
Can you feel that slight chill in the air? Have you noticed the first brushings of color on the still-green trees of summer? Is your garden producing more than you can possibly eat?
I felt the weather break this week; you know, that hard-to-put-your-finger-on-it feeling, where you can tell that the summer sun is no longer beating down, and the heat of the last four months is starting to retreat and give way to an orchestral change? It’s always very emotional for me when the weather starts to cool down and it’s obvious that summer is ending, something I think I share with a lot of other people.
Why do you think this is? Of all the seasonal changes, why do you think the transition from summer to fall is the one that makes the most people stop, and think, and feel, and notice? I, for one, have been so busy, so wrapped up in politics and work and my social life that I haven’t really “experienced” the summer this year… but even in that mental state, the slow creep of nature’s clock really has me paying attention this week.
I have a feeling that this shared emotion is probably an evolutionary and cultural remnant from millennia past. Throughout our species’ time on Earth, this point in the year was probably the most biologically significant in terms of survival. Nature is most productive, putting forth food and fibers and fuels in a quick burst before the colder temperatures usher in the minimally-productive winter months. The fall is the time of year, at least in temperate regions, where our preparations and decisions would have meant life or death in the threatening winter weather. It seems to make sense that each year’s transition into the fall represented enough of an evolutionary pressure, that instinctively paying attention to it was – and is – a biological imperative.
And it probably follows that cultural norms were built around that deeply-ingrained biological imperative. We all intuitively know that it is becoming fall; that the weather is about to change significantly; that the natural world is about to dance, and sing, and deck itself out, in a last-ditch attempt to prepare itself for winter… and that we should respond in kind. That’s where the culture around the harvest originated, with ancient festivals and celebrations (like the pagan Samhain) and modern (capitalism-driven) iterations of “pumpkin-spice-everything” and obsessions over fall-related activities. We all intuitively know that something big is going to happen, and that we need to pay attention…
So that’s what we should do. Fall has always been my favorite time of year, probably much for innate biological and cultural reasons I’ve discussed (and also Halloween, which is a once-ortwice-removed example of the same). Even in this most busy year in my life, I’ve already begun to slow down my body, mind, and calendar a bit, to pay attention and allow myself to enjoy the
season.
And that’s what I want you to do, too. Go apple picking. Decorate with some pumpkins, and carve them for Halloween. Enjoy the typical foods of the fall – the pumpkins and apples, the spices, the corn, the soups and pies and warm beverages. Go on a hayride or to a haunted house. Spend time outside, in nature, with friends and family and your community, and be a part of the natural world’s well-choreographed transition from growing to storing, from summer to fall.
In addition to feeding those deeply-ingrained evolutionary and emotional and spiritual needs, allowing yourself to experience these things is good for small-scale agriculture. It gives you a good excuse to patronize local orchards and farms for most of the typical fall products: apples, corn, mums, cornstalks, hay bales, pumpkins and gourds (even if you have a HUGE, compost-pile-sourced, volunteer pumpkin patch, like I do), cider, and all of the produce and meats that go into your favorite warm dishes.
And doing this further feeds your soul. Being connected with the people who produce your food, and watching as they curate this burst of productivity from their land, and offer the goods of the harvest out to their community…this is a tradition as old as human civilization itself.
So this fall, slow down a bit; pay attention to the weather, and the leaves, and the agriculture, and the people and culture around you. Pay attention to the natural world, and remember that you, too, are a part of it.