Grateful for Autumn’s Cornucopia

This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.

Yesterday marked a joining together, a Thanksgiving of sorts, on the Autumn Equinox. I’d picked tomatoes the day before as rain clouds gathered. We harvested and roasted peppers and eggplant with onions and delicata squash we’d collected from a local farm. Tomatoes and carrots were slow baked in the oven for hours, and all was blended into sauce perfection. A medley of summer.

I refocused my breath and attention to feeling the skins and bodies of these beautiful fruits and roots in my hands, over and over, as I washed, chopped, and arranged.

Our son Sam joined us for dinner. He showed up 3 hours early to help build our lasagna-ish. (My dear friend Licia, living in Italy, straightened me out — the “ricotta layer” is “No. Not Italian.”) It was, however, a glorious confluence of cheese, roasted vegetables, meats, and a tempeh one for me. We built 5 trays, actually. When there is abundance, we store and share! 3 will be frozen to become a Christmas dinner.

Slabs of deliciousness are being shuttled to neighbors today who are sending treats back in return. Zucchini bread from James. Delicate rose-shaped apple tarts and yeasted breads from Rose. Another layer of abundance here in our neighborhood … so much love.

How are the fruits and roots of autumn touching your life? Do you refocus your attention on their vibrant colors and sumptuous textures? Who do you share with? How do you collect and set aside the vital life force of summer to sustain you? If you don’t tell me, I hope you enjoy this conversation with a friend.

Photo above: Roasted and raw veggies from garden and local farms, about to go in the oven to make sauce.