A Crunchy Life - September 2024 Newsletter
A deeper look into this month's post. I share more thoughts and resources for tapping into a simple, intentional life filled with Earth-based practices.
Hello friends!
The September post is up and it is about we are in the middle harvest season now, moving toward the dark season. The fall garden is planted (carrots and spinach). The final tomatoes will be harvested, green ones for pickles and fried green tomatoes. Compost and leaves are being added to the beds that are resting. And, I find myself ready — willing and eager — for the darkness.
This is a huge shift for me. It happened a couple of years ago when I decided to befriend the dark season rather than fight it. Now that I have befriended the dark season I am able to be truly at home in nature during this time. I am able to connect with nature in partnership. I love that I am now able to find the natural rhythm that once came with living life seasonally, before modernization made it possible to disconnect from seasonal patterns and changes.
In this season, I connect with the season as it is, without the weight of technology, without the need to achieve, without the need to rush, without the need to overcome and achieve. I slow down and enjoy the relationship Mother Earth and I have together.
As the Autumn Equinox approaches I find myself refreshed and ready. Into this dark season I am taking with me an open heart and mind, a desire to go deep, a desire to be in the season in partnership with nature, and a desire to find the freedom that is available in the darkness. Time for some outdoor fires with the family, too.
Here’s how I am using my hand, head, and heart this month.
Here’s how I'm using my hand, head, and heart this month to go into the dark season with an open heart and mind and to find the freedom that is available in the darkness.
Hand: Blessing and Boundaries
Our home is the most sacred space for our family. It is a place that is built on love and connection, with each other, with nature, and with all of our extended community - humans and more than humans. It is a space where imagination and creativity have air to breathe and explore. It is a place filled with seasonal and daily rhythms that build our internal resilience for all that life has to offer. It is the place where we can be the most vulnerable. The place where we can explore who we are and how we are.
Our home has a very important job, as well. It protects us, shelters us. The structure itself is as sacred as what takes place inside. The materials are all from Earth and ground us back to her.
It is important to me to pause, at least seasonally, and take the time to bless and thank our home. The Oxford English Dictionary says the original meaning (probably) of bless was to make ‘sacred’ or ‘holy’ with blood. Blessing something with blood is as personal as it gets. What a huge statement. Blood isn’t our substance of choice but that origin speaks loudly to me about the depth expressed in a blessing.
In this month’s post, I shared that our saining bundle is made from cedar, juniper, lavender, basil, calendula, rosemary, and comfrey. They were all harvested from our garden in August and are plants that represent purification, cleansing, abundance, positivity, mental clarity, sunshine, and protection. Here is a bit more detail.
Autumn Saining Bundle
Create a small bundle in your hand of herbs such as:
Rosemary - Salvia rosmarinus Rosemary is the base of my bundle. It is the most prolific herb in the garden so taking enough to set the foundation of the bundle is easy. Rosemary removes feelings of anxiety, cleansing, purifying, lifts moods
Comfrey - Symphytum officinale Comfrey has a large leaf and provides a good base for the herbs to come. Comfrey safeguards the home.
Juniper - Juniperus spp. Juniper comes in next. It promotes success, abundance, protection, and shifts energy.
Lavender and Basil are added next. Lavender - Lavandula spp. Lavender positivity, relaxation, eases stress, while sweet basil or tulsi (depending on how our tulsi does each summer) - Ocimum tenuiflorum brings in mental clarity and protection.
Calendula - Calendula officinalis. Calendula is the top of the bundle. Honestly, calendula is included and sits at the top because it looks like the sun.
Using twine gently wrap the bundle from the bottom to the top, and tie to secure the bunch. The bundle can be used for a one room or whole house blessing. The bundle is lit the top. Blow out the fire and allow the smoke to waft around.
Here’s my process:
I move room by room in a clockwise direction. I say a blessing and thank you in each room and sain all over the doorway and in the middle of the open space. The last step is to sprinkle pink sea salt on the threshold of the front door. It will sit for a bit, 15-20 minutes, then the salt and the old energy out of the home will be swept out, and a blessing said for the house and family.
Head: Michaelmas
Michaelmas kicks off one of my favorite times of the year: Michaelmas 9/29 until Candlemas 2/2. There’s at least one festival/holiday each month during this time. What I really love are all of the transitions during this time.
Michaelmas is a time of new beginnings. Michael calls us to find the spirit of aliveness during the increasing darkness. And, there are so many opportunities to have fun on Michaelmas.
Dye capes and sashes golden yellow or red with natural dyes
Obstacle courses
Hunt for “dragon tears” - glass pebbles similar to these or these
Make dragons out of felt
Make dragons out of thin modeling material
Make Blackberry Crumble (recipe below!)
Hold puppet shows
Tell stories of St. Michael, The Star Children, Little Boy Knight, St. George and the Dragon.
Campfires
We will read The Shooting Stars by Christine Natale and stories of the Cailleach because it wouldn’t be Michaelmas without them. Other than that, it will be interesting to see what each of us brings to the day. A blackberry crumble may be on the agenda this year.
Blackberry Crumble Recipe
8 cups fresh blackberries
1 1⁄4 cups sugar
1.5 teaspoons orange zest
1 tablespoon arrowroot
1⁄2 cup orange juice
Crumble:
1 cup flour
1⁄2 cup light brown sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 cup oats
12 tablespoons butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toss the fruit with 3⁄4 cup of sugar and orange zest in a large bowl. Dissolve the arrowroot in the orange juice and then mix it into the fruit. Pour the mixture into an 8-by-11-inch baking dish. For the topping, in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, the remaining 1⁄2 cup sugar, brown sugar, salt, and oatmeal. With the mixer on low speed add the butter and mix until the dry ingredients are moist and the mixture crumbles. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit and bake for 1 hour.
Carrot cake is also associated with Michaelmas. The Cailleach’s Herbarium has a great section called Gathering Carrots in the post entitled, LA FHÉILE MÍCHEAL – MICHAELMAS – AUTUMN EQUINOX. In this section, he discusses Carrot Sunday which falls right around Michaelmas. It is worth the effort to click the link, scroll down to the heading, and read it. Plus, there’s lots of other great information in this post.
Heart: Yoga
In this month’s post, I shared how Yoga is life for me. It is more than exercise, stretching, or simply movement. Yoga is so much more than asana. Yoga is an integrated way of living my life. Yoga is about being alive in the now and about how I move through the now with attention and an open heart.
I also shared that my teacher, my teacher, Britt Steele offers a wonderful live-stream class every Sunday from 9 - 10:30 am CST. Another offering Britt has is Pilgrim. Britt has been offering Pilgrim for 10-years and this is my 7th year. Today is Day 2 of 108 days which we walk together into the new year. It’s likely still possible to sign up, but you would have to reach out to Britt right away.
Britt masterfully distills yogic wisdom and shares her personal journey with us, translating spiritual teachings into pragmatic tools that practically serve individuals, others and the world. There’s yoga, meditations, recipes and daily inspirations. There’s an amazing community on Facebook and there’s a bunch of supplemental stuff too — like clearing out our kitchens & bathrooms, getting more restful sleep, and generally managing ups and downs of life.
Pilgrim is "pay what's right" model. As Britt explains, it looks like this: If you have the means to pay the full price, I trust that the full price is the “right" price for you to pay. However, if your financial circumstances dictate a lower contribution, I trust that you'll pay what is “right”, so that you are still able to contribute and you are not in financial hardship.
Here’s one final recipe this month. It is something I don’t think I would have ever learned to make if not for Pilgrim. And, I am so glad I did. It’s so yummy! I like to make it on a full moon because the ghee reminds me of the light and juiciness of the full moon.
Ghee
1 pound unsalted butter
Place butter in a pot. Bring the butter to a boil. Reduce the heat to a slow, steady simmer. The butter will begin to foam. Don’t remove this foam; it will begin to be absorbed into the butter.
Let the butter simmer for 45 minutes to one hour. Keep an eye on it and keep the flame as low as possible. The ghee is done when browned butterfat is caramelized on the bottom of the pan and the top portion of the ghee is clear and golden.
Let it cool. Pour very slowly into a small mason jar with a lid and leave it to solidify. Pouring slowly helps to keep the browned butterfat on the bottom of the pan.
There are so many ways to use ghee. Use in place of butter. Add a dollop to your coffee or tea in the morning. Add a dollop to milk, turmeric, cardamom, saffron, ginger, black pepper, and nutmeg for a warm, evening beverage. Spread on baked goods. Melt it over steamed veggies. Ghee has a high smoke point so it is great for stir fries and to cook fried eggs.
Ghee has a long shelf life because it has no water in. Store it on a kitchen counter or in a kitchen cabinet, out of direct sunlight and away from water.
Final thought for this month:
The Sight of a Marsh Hawk by Gilbert Byron
Excerpt from Fall p. 18 While I'm still asleep a flicker sounds his alarm on the dead oak tree. A hummingbird taps on the kitchen window as if to say goodbye. The tonger can see easily and clearly through ink on cloudy days. Coming home I find a pine cone on the doorstep - a squirrel's calling card. The old dog watching waves lapping on the shore, recalls her wild youth. One hundred yards past the dock I anchor the skiff and catch a rockfish.
Gilbert Byron has a way of capturing the magic of the Chesapeake region in his poems. From his cabin on San Domingo Creek’s Old House Cove he described the beauty in the every day, what he saw around him, out the window, on the water. I find myself returning again and again to his poetry as the season crosses into the fall this year.
This Autumn Equinox I find myself refreshed and ready. My hand, head, and heart practices provide an opportunity for me to use my hand, head, and heart this month to go into the dark season with an open heart and mind and to find the freedom that is available in the darkness. Into this dark season I am taking with me an open heart and mind, a desire to go deep, a desire to be in the season in partnership with nature, and a desire to find the freedom that is available in the darkness.
Love,
Karen