Embracing Autumn: Preparing for Autumn

The rain of recent weeks has finally - finally! - given way to sunshine and blue skies. And yet despite the presence of the sun, the days are noticeably shorter as we inch closer to the Autumn Equinox. Today for the first time this year I saw the swallows and martins lining up in chattering rows along the telephone wires as they do each year as they prepare for their marathon winter migration to South Africa.

Just as the swallows are preparing themselves for the changes Autumn brings, we humans are also preparing for Autumn - stocking up on supplies for the new academic year (or buying new school uniforms for the kids), preserving the Autumn harvest by making jams and chutneys, tidying spent bedding plants from the garden - whilst simultaneously enjoying the better weather while it lasts. Some customers in the shop where I work are even starting their Christmas shopping (I'm all for planning ahead, but that's a step too far for me!).

Embracing Autumn: Autumn Preparations

Without necessarily looking as far ahead as Christmas, what are you (or should you be) doing to prepare for Autumn? I suspect we each have different priorities when it comes to seasonal jobs, but you may like to think about:

• Putting away Summer clothes and digging out your Autumn wardrobe - it won't be long before cosy jumpers, comfy boots and snuggly scarves are the go-to choices when you get dressed in the morning.
• In the garden, tidying up straggly or gone-to-seed plants (but do leave some as food and shelter for wildlife).
• Making sure you have some nice soft blankets to hand so that you can snuggle up on the sofa in comfort or add an extra layer of warmth when you're in bed.
• Getting yourself some nice scented candles or a jar of luxury hot chocolate ready to increase the hygge factor in your home.
• Making sure you have all the necessary textbooks/stationery/folders etc ready if you've signed up for an Autumn course or workshop. You could also prepare a space in your home as a study area.
• Ensuring your garden has some suitable areas for wildlife to overwinter in safely.  

Embracing Autumn: Butterfly Days

Although 'Embracing Autumn' was intended to be a series of daily posts, once again things have slipped and I have missed a few days. This is because IB's elderly Mum - who is now living with us - had a nasty fall on Saturday afternoon which landed her in A&E. She's OK and on the mend but as you can probably imagine we've been a bit preoccupied over the last couple of days. I probably could have written something last night but to be honest I was too frazzled to sum up a coherent thought. I hope things will get back on track from now on, though.

Today I've been thinking about butterflies. In late August the buddleia bush on our patio is covered in butterflies. Many people dislike buddleia as it can be an invasive weed. The bush on our patio in fact sowed itself - I'm not sure quite where from as I'm not aware of any buddleia bushes in the immediate area, but somehow a seed must have blown in from somewhere. Now it's huge despite me cutting it back hard every winter, and at this of year time it makes the butterflies and bees so happy I can't possibly regret its arrival. I really rather love its unruly sprawl, the generosity of its abundant purple flowers drawing in clouds of butterflies and bees and the scent of honey as I brush past it. This morning as I left for work, the wall of the house by the buddleia was covered in butterflies warming their wings in the morning sun (I tucked this observation away as one of my beautiful things for today).

In this season of harvest and plenty, it seems appropriate to watch the butterflies feasting and apparently celebrating their bounty. 

Embracing Autumn: Butterfly Days

How many different kinds of butterfly can you spot? If you need help with identifying them, there are man handy online guides such as this and this. You can also help with butterfly conservation by simply reporting your butterfly sightings to projects like this one. 

 

     

Embracing Autumn: Spiderwebs

I love to see the marvellously constructed spiderwebs which appear in the garden at this time of year, jewelled with dewdrops. I suspect the spiderwebs are there all summer, but as the Summer dew is lighter and has mostly evaporated by the time we humans are up and about, we don't really catch sight of them. In Autumn though, the heavier dews and more frequent rain combined with shorter days make them far more visible, and what a delightful gift that is. With the morning sun setting the dewdrops sparkling like tiny crystal beads it's possible to fully appreciate the delicately spun intricate patterns and the amount of work that has gone into them. I know not everyone is fond of spiders, but surely even the most die-hard arachnophobe can find some appreciation of the shimmering beauty of Autumn webs?

Embracing Autumn: Web Meditation

Find an actual web or an image of one to focus your attention on. Find somewhere you can sit comfortably whilst gazing at your web. Take a few deep breaths in and out, and relax any tension you may be feeling in your body. Look carefully at your web. Notice how the 'spokes' of the web radiate outwards from the centre, anchoring the web in place. What are the anchor points in your life? What are the things, people or places which hold you securely, providing security and a firm foundation on which to build? Are the anchor points you have sufficient to support you, or do you need to strengthen them - or work on creating some more? 

Look at your web again. See how the connecting threads weave in a spiral out from the centre of the web, connecting each of the spokes. Think about how the path of your life spirals outwards as you grow in knowledge and understanding. Time and again as we travel through life we return to the same place, revisiting the same themes or issues or life lessons. Yet each time we return we bring a different perspective, a new understanding to add to the lessons we have already learned on our outward spiralling journey.

Look at the web and notice how every part of it is connected to and sensitive to every other part of it. Think of all the connections in your life and how they are all interconnected. Think of the great web of life connecting all living beings on the planet and understand that the health and wellbeing of each individual is inextricably linked to every other being. Imagine how your thoughts and actions have power to send tremors travelling through the web of life, and consider how to use this influence wisely to benefit the whole. Remember your power comes from your connection. 

Spiders maintain their webs diligently and meticulously, constantly reweaving and repairing any tears. Do you care for and maintain the connections that make up the fabric of your life? What would you need to do to improve the care you give yourself and your connections? Give yourself permission to properly care for yourself and your web. Remember that in doing so you strengthen the whole.

Come back to yourself and your body, sitting in its comfortable seat. Look once again at your web and take a few moments to think about the power and beauty of the web structure. Reflect in your journal about what you have seen and learned during this meditation.   

 

Embracing Autumn: Blackberry Time

 

August is the time of the grain harvest, but of course it's also the month that the blackberry harvest begins. I've been eagerly anticipating the first juicy black berries of the season, but I was still happily surprised when I realised the first few had appeared.

Most of the earlier season berries we enjoy in this country are cultivated - strawberries, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, loganberries, tayberries and blueberries; while most of the other 'wild' berries - rowan berries, elderberries, haws, rosehips and sloes - are best processed in some way before eating. Blackberries, however are wild, free, bountiful and perfectly delicious plucked straight from the vine. No wonder they've been eaten by humans for at least 8,000 years (according to the archaeological evidence)! It's not just humans who benefit from this fantastic resource - the berries are also eagerly consumed by birds, foxes, badgers, mice and other small mammals. The flowers provide nectar for bees and other pollinating insects, and the leaves are grazed by deer and are an important food source for caterpillars. Thorny bramble thickets also provide shelter, nesting sites and a safe haven from predators for birds, small mammals and even grass snakes.

Have you ever noticed that not all blackberries taste the same? It's not your imagination. There are actually more than 330 subspecies of blackberries in the UK alone - so I suggest doing a 'taste test' of the blackberries in your area and taking careful note of where the best are to be found! 

Herbalists use blackberry (the roots, leaves and berries) to treat a variety of conditions including diarrhoea, burns, dysentery, inflammation and sore throats. I find it interesting that a plant capable of inflicting such nasty scratches is used as a soothing remedy.

Such a well-known plant inevitably has a lot of folklore attached to it. On the Isle of Man it was said to be unlucky to eat the first ripe blackberries as they belonged to the faeries, yet in other parts of the country the first fruits contained healing powers (as I don't live on the Isle of Man I decided it would be fine for me to eat the first blackberries I found - and they were delicious!). The plant was also used to magically heal those suffering from a variety of ailments (including ruptures, pimples and boils) by passing the afflicted person under the archway formed by a bramble branch. In Christian lore it's said the berries are black because brambles were used to make Christ's crown of thorns. It was also said that Lucifer landed painfully in a blackberry  bush when he was thrown out of Heaven and in anger he spits (or in some tellings, urinates!) on the berries each Michaelmas Day (29th September) after which the berries are unpalatable and should not be picked. It seems more likely to me that it's actually the colder weather and frosts at the end of September that are to blame for overly soft, tasteless blackberries! Despite all these negative associations, blackberry bushes were thought to protect against evil spirits and were often planted near homes for this reason (I'm sure the berries were an added bonus!).

There are some wonderful folk names for the plant including bramble, bumblekites, black leg, bounty thorn, skaldberry, blackbutters, blackbides, scaldhead and gatterberry. 

Embracing Autumn: Go Blackberrying!

Take the family, take a basket, and go blackberrying. The bushes are easily found in hedgerows and on wasteground. Do watch out for the sharp thorns which will catch and scratch you, and the berries will stain your fingers - but the reward of a basket full of juicy fruit will be well worth it. Eat them fresh, or bake them into cakes, pies, crumbles, muffins. Blackberry ice cream, blackberry sorbet, blackberry fool. Make blackberry jam or jelly, blackberry syrup, blackberry wine, or steep them in gin or vodka with a little added sugar to produce blackberry liqueur

Embracing Autumn: Tracking the Seasonal Changes

As of today I have been living at Halfway Up A Hill for 21 years, the longest unbroken period of time I have lived anywhere. I vividly remember the first morning I awoke in our new house and looked out of our bedroom window across the lush green valley spread out below us. It was a gorgeous, golden, sunny morning. The sky was brilliant blue and full of joyously swooping swallows, and the valley was filled with early morning mist. I wondered then if I'd ever tire of the view. I haven't. It still fills me with delight and wonder that I live somewhere so beautiful, and I endlessly photograph it through the changing seasons in a vain attempt to adequately capture its loveliness.

My photographs never quite do the view justice, but what they do capture is how much the view changes through the passing months of the year. I've noticed the same phenomenon when I take photos of the garden. In winter, the images I've recorded in summer amaze me with the abundance of foliage and flowers - and in summer the photos taken in winter seem impossibly stark and uncluttered, the bare bones of the land visible in a way that is completely hidden in summer when they're swathed in layers of vegetation. Taking regular photographs of the same view is a great way to keep a visual record of seasonal changes.

Embracing Autumn: Keeping a Pictorial Track of Seasonal Changes

Take a photo of a particular view from the same place and at at the same time every week throughout the autumn period. It is quite amazing how much change can be seen within the space of only a week. When you are finished, assemble the photos in chronological order so that you can track the subtle changes in the landscape that add up into dramatic differences over a longer period.

If you like, you could take a photo every day. You could also continue the project over a longer period, such as over the course of a year - or longer.   

    

Embracing Autumn: Autumn Music

Illustration by Terry Fan https://bibliocolors.blogspot.com/2013/10/musica-de-tardor-musica-de-otono-fall.html

I don't know about you, but while I'm working or cooking - or if I'm alone in the house - I like to have music playing in the background. I enjoy creating playlists - sometimes random assortments of my favourite songs and sometimes themed. During a stressful period earlier in the summer, I created a playlist of sweet and soothing summer music to play when I was working rather than my usual randomly selected playlists. Each song in the playlist had to be soothing and/or uplifting and to 'sound summery'. It really helped to keep me feeling relaxed and happy, but I also found myself really appreciating the seasonality of it. 

However, just this week I have begun to think that my lovely summer playlist is becoming less seasonally appropriate. I'll play it for maybe another week, but during that time I'll be selecting another group of songs, Autumn songs. This will be my soundtrack for the next couple of months, until my thoughts begin to turn towards a Winter playlist...

What is it that makes music seasonally appropriate? I think it's a very personal thing. Some of the Autumn tracks I've already selected are songs that are specifically about Autumn - Billie Holliday singing 'Autumn in New York' or 'The Reach' by Dan Fogelberg for example. Others are songs that I associate with the Autumn, probably because it was at that time of year that I originally heard them a lot on the radio:  Shawn Colvin's 'Sunny Came Home' always reminds me of driving my car on a mellow, golden day in early Autumn. And some songs just sound Autumnal - I really don't know why, but to me, Gordon Lightfoot's voice is the very essence of how Autumn should sound. What sounds like Autumn to you?

Embracing Autumn: Create Your Autumn Soundtrack

Create your own playlist of Autumn music to accompany your journey through the season. Is there a particular artist or genre you like to listen to at this time of year?  A particular voice or instrument that sounds like Autumn to your ears? 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' by Green Day - or 'Autumn' from Vivaldi's Four Seasons?

If you need more inspiration, lists of Autumnal music (with some overlap) may be found here, here, here, here and here. 

Embracing Autumn: The Rowan

It's August, and Rowan berries are ripening to brilliant scarlet, gloriously bright against the blue-grey skies.

The Rowan is one of my favourite trees. I love the slender grace of her smooth grey trunk, her dainty sprays of leaves, the froth of her creamy blossom in spring and the sass of her bold, bright berries heralding the onset of Autumn. I love the way her beauty belies her tenacity and strength - Rowan is able to grow at high altitudes (hence one of her other names, 'Mountain Ash') and in poor soils and inaccessible places which are often inhospitable to other species.

The Rowan has long been considered a magical, protective tree and had the reputation of protecting travellers from getting lost and warding off evil. People planted Rowans by their houses, hung Rowan branches over their doors and tied crossed Rowan twigs together with red thread as charms. It's also considered a 'threshold tree' and as such was not only planted at boundaries, but also believed to watch over gateways between this world and the otherworld. Perhaps for this reason it was traditionally planted in Welsh graveyards.

Other names for Rowan include Quickbeam, Berry Ash, Traveller's Tree, Wicken Tree, Wiggy and Thor's Helper (because of a tale in the Prose Edda in which Thor saves himself from drowning in a raging river by grabbing hold of a Rowan). 

Rowans can grow up to 15m in height and live for up to 200 years. The leaves, bark,  flowers and fruit of the tree are useful for wildlife, providing food for moths, butterflies, bees, foxes, badgers, squirrels, dormice and birds. Humans can eat the berries too, they are best made into jellies, jams, wines, cordials or liqueurs. Heating or freezing them during processing helps break down the compounds within them which could otherwise potentially cause indigestion or kidney problems.

Embracing Autumn: Make a Rowan Charm for Yourself or Your Home

Try to find a Rowan tree in your area* and gather fallen twigs and/or berries to make a protective charm for your home, car or to carry with you. The simplest method is to use two crossed twigs and some yarn (red is the traditional colour to use, but you can choose colours that are meaningful to you) to make a 'God's Eye'/'Ojo de Dios'. You could thread rowan berries onto the yarn for added protection, or add a 'tail' of threaded berries to hang down from your charm. Instructions on how to make a God's Eye can be found here (or look on Youtube for a tutorial). 

Alternatively you could simply thread Rowan berries together onto a length of cotton (using a needle and thread) or a piece of wire. Hang them over your front door to invoke the protection of the 'threshold tree' for your home.

* Rowans are often planted in parks, so even if you live in a city you should be able to find one. If all else fails, rowan berries can easily be purchased from herbal suppliers online. To ensure you are buying the right kind, check the Latin name which should be Sorbus aucuparia.