Autumnal Equinox

Welcome to Autumn!

Can you feel it? The air is getting cooler, the wind brisker and the veggies hardier. There is a major seasonal shift happening from summer to fall. This is one of the most intense seasonal changes for many of us. Spring to summer felt like a great release, an exhalation, and now summer to fall brings us to a place of quiet introspection. Now is the time to inhale deeply, preparing for the solitude of winter. Gather up all the nourishment you need during this harvest season to sustain you emotionally and physically through the dark months of winter. Embrace the end of the warm months by gobbling up all the berries and stone fruit that remain! While melons and other annual fruit die back, figs and apples are starting to ripen in their place.

This season brings us delicious treats like winter squash, sweet potatoes, parsnips and jerusalem artichoke. These veggies are survivors, designed to survive the transition from warm to cold, and packing a nutritional punch that matches their zeal for growth. Fall is an earthly time where the food we consume comes less and less from the sea and above the ground and more from within the body of the earth. Welcoming the refreshing breeze of fall means transitioning away from raw, cleansing foods and ingesting more soups, broths and roots. The warmth of summer made it easier for our bodies to digest raw foods and survive off of less calories, but its cold enough to get cooking again so turn the oven on, get that stock simmering and increase consumption of cooked veggies and meats.