Welcoming Fall

Michaelmas: Beware the Blackberry Bushes

I love when the seasons change.  It is hard to ignore the beauty of nature as she exchanges her flowery, green gown for one of cascading yellows, oranges, and reds; a palate that warms your soul, which is convenient since you can no longer rely on feeling warmth from the sun.  You have to find it huddled around a bonfire,  in a mug of hot apple cider, or in that worn out, oh so comfortable sweater that you've been waiting to resurface.

The pre-frost harvest of the co-op garden we share with our next door neighbors has brought in the last of the tomatoes and peppers, perfect for chili.

We took the boys to the big wooden playground where they discovered their new favorite thing: fallen leaves.  They gathered and held on to every leaf we came across, and you'd be surprised at how many they could fit in their little hands.  I cannot wait until there are enough leaves to rake up into a pile fit for playing. 

With our autumn spirits in full swing, we celebrated Michaelmas on September 29th.  Michaelmas is one of the Quarter Days.   These are the four days of the year, roughly three months apart, which coincide with religious holidays AND the two equinoxes and two solstices. You can celebrate Michaelmas on quite a wide spectrum, focusing on archangels or dragons or both.  Michaelmas is the Feast of Saint Michael, the archangel who is credited with casting Satan out of heaven (and right into a blackberry bush).  Along with this story, running along parallel themes of courage and bravery, is the tale of Saint George who defeated the dragon of Silene.  Both of these narratives fit neatly into the good versus evil archetypes, but they also encourage self refection of the "evils" in our own lives, internal and external.  Now, as days grow shorter, colder, and darker, is an ideal time to acknowledge and dispel these forces so that we may fill our homes with warmth and light. 

Our celebration was simple and fine tuned to be enjoyable for our boys.  (Although I stockpiled some ideas for when they are a little older and better able to wield swords.)  Since the boys are still working on scribbling, I decided that I would do the Michaelmas crafting this year.  After some late night brainstorming, we decided to make a simple felt tree wall hanging with colorful leaves for the boys to collect and rearrange.

I had some large pieces of felt left over from making their stump playhouse and using the grout lines of our kitchen floor as a guide, cut a large piece of light brown felt.  I folded over the top edge and hot glued a seam, leaving enough room for a dowel rod.  I cut out a dark brown tree, no pattern, just kind of went for it, and hot glued that onto the large piece of felt.  I sketched some leaf patterns and assigned my husband the task of leaf production while I made the bird and owl.  After tying a ribbon onto either side of the dowel rod, we planted our tree on the wall in the boys' corner of the living room.

Our hybrid tree was a big hit!

I also made a Michaelmas pie.  I found the recipe here.  The ingredients come from combining the apple harvest with the tradition of not eating blackberries after Michaelmas because the Devil fell/spit/cursed/and did who knows what else to them after Saint Michael gave him the boot. I used Honeycrisp apples because A. I had some left over from our visit to Soergel Orchards because B. If they are in season, they are the only kind of apples I buy.  It was a simple recipe that produced a simply delicious pie, the sweetness of the fruit was the perfect complement to the brown spices which filled our home with the smell of fall.  Next time - after having a conversation with my pie baking expert mother which probably should have taken place BEFORE I made the pie - I am going to add a little more flour to the filling to thicken it a bit and brush some milk on the top crust to give it a golden brown color.

Now that we have properly welcomed the season, there is a lot of autumn knitting, crafting, and baking to be done before nature changes her dress once again, bringing a fresh set of ingredients, aromas, and traditions.