FIRST DAY OF FALL 2018

Some call it Autumn, some call it Fall, our Celebrate the Autumn Equinox this September 23rd!We love the first day of Fall.

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We are unabashedly in love with Autumn/Fall. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s the only season with two names. Maybe it’s the light (ok, in some cases and places it’s very definitely the light -- those of you in states and climates where you get technicolor tree leaves, we in California are envious and maybe be coming soon for a visit, so maybe get some cider ready and we’ll bring tacos to trade?), maybe it’s the wind (nothing feels quite like a brisk Autumn gale), maybe it’s the essential duality in the season itself -- the first day of Fall, also known as the Autumn Equinox, has a kind of duality built into its name. Equinox quite literally the time of year (there are two) when the sun crosses the celestial equator and day and night are of precisely equal length, for one precious 24 hour period. It’s no wonder that people have been celebrating the Autumn Equinox with feasts, festivals, harvest celebrations, family gatherings, and collective gratitude for millenia, it’s decidedly kind of magical.

In a way, Fall feels fuller than any other season. Maybe even all seasons combined --- maybe because in a sense, it IS the most interconnected season, a sensory feast combining the physical bounty owed to Spring and Summer (yum: fruits, veggies, squashes, grains, any and all harvestable things) and our collective gathering of warmth, light, attention and care needed to face the Winter (yes, even the cold California winter, where we break out our cashmere sweaters or burrow our normally sandal-clad feet in Uggs... for 58 degree evenings).

Fall is a season to gather and preserve, harvest and store, relish and celebrate all the bounty of the previous seasons, and also, to harvest and store light -- whether it’s through outdoor sensory experience (making time to take walks in that rapturous, gilded light that only exists between late September and mid November --matched only by the leaves that echo the same tones), taking as many #nofilter Instagram-worthy pix of your favorite Autumn activities (apple picking, harvesting the last of your summer garden, taking your littles to the pumpkin patch, making pies, raking piles of dive-worthy leaves, taking up heirloom practices like making jams or jellies, and so many more), or metaphoric light -- the light we create in relationships -- via friendships, family ties, newly discovered kindred spirits, and communities of fun and faith. We only have a few short weeks before winter -- an equally magical time to be sure, but before we bundle up and head full-tilt towards hygge practices, let’s make and keep some Autumnal magic of our own. We suggest…

• Throwing a feast. Sure, of course there’s Thanksgiving and we LOVE Thanksgiving, but historically Autumn is a time for harvest and gathering -- what better way to celebrate it on a more intimate/informal scale than a Gathered Gathering AKA Pot Luck. Pick a date, choose to serve one or two things that you either have (or will amass) in abundance, and invite your guests to bring something to share. Not a gardener/cook? Make stovetop cider -- cinnamon for all and spiked for some is a good call. Had a bumper crop in the backyard and are afraid of impending rot? Not anymore! Run with whatever veggie overdid itself in your garden...lots of zucchini/yellow squash/tomatoes? Ratatouille is delicious and easy to make and nearly everyone enjoys it. Have nothing physical to harvest? Provide the venue. Give ample hugs.
• Make playlists. Share something heartfelt. A feast isn’t limited to food.
• Dedicate a day -- any day in the season -- to celebrating nature, honoring the earth, and giving back to it. This might mean going on a meditative walk in the woods, or it might mean volunteering to clean up the bonfire area at your favorite beach (where summer revelers might have been a little lax in their care for the earth).

Fall is a season of shifting, gathering, glowing, and going forward: gather the good, share your heart, and get cozy. We love you!