Monday, September 23, 2019 marks the official beginning of autumn with the fall equinox and I couldn’t be happier about it. Autumn is my favourite season for so many reasons.
A perfect fall day when it’s chilly in the morning but sunny and 20 degrees in the afternoon is pure bliss for me. The air is crisp and fresh. The sun is shining. There’s fog lingering in the air on my drive to work and as it lifts it reveals a beautiful blue sky peppered with perfect little clouds. Maybe a rainbow pops out.
The farm looks so beautiful in the morning when it’s foggy and the sun manages to shine through the trees. There’s dew on the luscious green grass and on my windshield. It’s not quite frosty yet.
I always hear people complain about the cold mornings and warm afternoons, because they don’t know what to wear, but I love them. I’m a jeans and a t-shirt kind of gal, and this weather is perfect for that choice of attire. Throw on a jacket and some boots and I’m good to go.
Another reason that I love fall is the seasonal food and drinks. I love cozying up under a blanket with a cup of tea. I could drink freshly pressed apple cider all day. No, I’m not a fan of the pumpkin spice latte but I do love carving pumpkins for halloween. And making recipes from the potatoes and tomatoes and carrots in our garden. Or roasting up some butternut squash and turning it into the most delicious soup you’ll ever eat.
This past weekend we spent the entire day on Saturday harvesting tomatoes and turning them into various soups, sauces and preserves. We figure we harvested well over 10,000 tomatoes. I kid you not. It was a process, but now we can enjoy them all winter long.
Then we spent Sunday processing firewood for our wood stove. It’s way better to be able to chop wood in a t-shirt as opposed to doing so in the dead of winter and freezing your hands off. If you ask me, it was the perfect way to welcome the fall equinox.
I read a quote by Rumi recently that read, “be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop”.
That’s another reason that I love autumn: the transition. The leaves changing, the bright yellow larch. The juxtaposition when there are still leaves on the ground but we get that first light dusting of snow. Saying goodbye to summer. There’s something about fall that feels refreshing and renewing and regenerating.
This year I am headed to my home town in Ontario for Thanksgiving and I’m really excited about it. Fall in Ontario is something else. If you’ve never experienced it, I highly recommend it. There are so many beautiful maple trees and the spectrum of colours when the leaves change is absolutely breathtaking. It is by far my favourite time to visit.
My family and I will spend the weekend baking pies and making a classic turkey dinner, going for long hikes in our favourite spots, wandering around little shops and hitting up flea markets. Although I will be a little sad to miss Thanksgiving on the farm, I am looking forward to doing some traditional fall activities with my family.
Hot tip if you’re making your own pie crust: save all of the leftover pie pieces/cutoffs and turn them into cinnamon rolls. No icing required, just some butter and cinnamon sugar. My mom always does this and they are so flaky and cinnamon-ey and delicious.
I’m curious to know if you have any fall-specific traditions or recipes? If so, I’d love to hear about them.
