Paganocity

Ok, so I'm a little late in welcoming the Autumn season. And ok, I did have to look up a name for this cross-quarter holiday, its celebration not being common practice in my family.  This morning, I definitely noticed cooler air, a truly comfortable breeze, as I walked out to pick some fresh leaves from the Moringa tree that fell in the last storm.  It will have to be moved, but seeing as it's been thriving in its current horizontal position with half its roots unearthed, it will probably survive the transition.  In the meantime, I've found the horizontal tree is far easier to harvest from.  I believe I have Bill to thank, for giving me a reason to go outside and discover Autumn.  And truly, for bringing Autumn with him.  Finally, a tropical storm.

Perhaps you think that i get exicited about strange things.  Of course, a tropical storm is a destructive force of Nature.  A furious, swirling force that brings with it cooling rain, sometimes lightning and fire - all of the raw ingredients needed to bring forth Florida's subtropical growing season.  Hooray Lughnasadh!  Perhaps it is not loaf-mass to me, not the first-harvest.  I'll celebrate a seed-mass, the opening of a season of temperatures mild enough to raise the mild temperate plants I most enjoy eating.  The season in which my neighbors' chickens will be able to lay tasty eggs, instead of consuming all their calories languishing in the heat.  I read of a Lughnasadh ritual involving burning your regrets.  I will burn my summer doldrums, my regrets from hiding indoors while the Sun wheels its power directly overhead.  I will seek a new relationship with my land, in the way that I love best (by working the soil and eating the rewards!)  I wish you all a happy Autumn, whatever this season means to you.

Jujube