August 1 until September 21
So much to do!
This season begins preparing for winter. The nights are cooler, days begin getting shorter. Instincts are about survival issues. We all feel a need to get ready. Even children. They know the school year is coming, summer is over. Everyone feels the spontaneous play of summer has passed for another year. Time to get back to work.
We instinctively begin thinking about what we need for the colder months. Instincts are about survival. Our body, mind and spirits start making sure we have enough warmth and food to survive. A busy time of getting ready. Body, mind and spirit all busy at once..all three use the fast momentum of summer to get ready.
Body – Lots of physical energy and motivation are needed to fit as much into summer as possible. The hard work of starting the winter garden seedlings, stocking the pantry with harvests and filling the woodshed for winter are all deeply satisfying chores. Finishing each of these seasonal chores satisfy our instincts to get ready. Our minds can begin to rest once we know that we will be warm and well fed for the winter. Timing and stamina are everything. Cooler nights mean a change of menu. Your body craves heavier, sweeter food. Choose wisely based on what your kind of body needs for stamina.
Mind – Fitting as much into summer as possible means prioritizing, time management and flexibility. Preparing for Autumn requires thinking about transforming your entire lifestyle…especially if your life has a school in it somewhere. Lifestyle includes what you eat, what you wear, how much time you spend indoors and what you do for fun. All of these are impacted by colder weather. Accomplishing all of these seasonal changes takes time. The trick is to be flexible for the leftover summer spontaneity, but focused on being ready by the time the weather changes. Before the first frost.
Spirit – Late summer means your spirit begins turning more inward. Everyone becomes a bit quieter. Using intuition to decide how you want to spend your winter months requires some quiet time. There is a newness about the beginning of a school year. An instinct of wanting to do better than last year. Almost like New Years Eve resolutions, but more internal. Late summer makes most people instinctively want to be more organized than last year. Vowing to be more efficient with their time by changing a few routines and bad habits. Even kids.
You need all five Common Senses to accomplish all these changes…
Touch – Survival instincts are part of your common sense of touch. Every baby is born with an instinct to be comfortably warm, dry and well fed. That instinct stays with us through life. A change of season makes you keenly aware of the work you need to do before the cold arrives. Once your body feels safely prepared, you can enjoy the rest of the season without feeling like there is something you should be doing. Pace yourself. Remember that you need stamina and focus, not caffeine. Stamina means remaining cooled off during the last heat of summer. Stamina means you can finish all of the chores needed to store as much summer sunshine as you can for the winter.
Sight – Lots of fun still to be had in late summer. Few things are more fun to me than going into a fully ripened garden or beautifully loaded farmer’s market. A full range of colors to enjoy just looking at! This is one of the few times of year that every color of the rainbow can be seen outside. The options for how I want to use the harvest are nearly limitless. So many ways to have fun stocking a pantry. Crafting jar after jar with all those colorful foods, herbs, flowers. Creativity through the roof. The hardest challenge to how finish all of it before Autumn. A wonderful puzzle to solve. Staying focused and organized is key.
Taste – Using time wisely is part of your common sense of Taste. Time management is key to finishing all of the seasonal changes that you need to finish. Prioritize your pantry chores by the timetable of availability. Berries, herbs and flowers come first because they have a narrow window of time to harvest, and a short shelf life once picked. Tomatoes require a lot of time, but their season is longer. Figure out what you need for winter. Do them in order of harvest window and the time they require. If there is a lot to do, get help. Harvest chores used to be done in groups, not alone. Families used to do it together. Call friends, have a jam session of a different sort. Spend the day making enough for everyone that comes to help. Same with canning tomatoes. It’s a lot of work for one person, but can be a lot of fun if you have three or four people all doing it together. Remember that you don’t have to do it all by yourself. Delegating requires communication, also part of your common sense of taste. Stay focused, remember to say no, and choose wisely to maintain stamina.
Smell – Your commoon sense of smell alerts you to changes of any kind in your life. It’s also the part of you that honors traditions. Late summer chores are as traditional as it gets. Readying the harvest for winter is part of every community. Where you live determines the tradition. The shorter your growing season, the more food you need to be able to put into the pantry. Putting up the same foods that my mother did is nurturing in many ways. I remember my childhood every time I smell them. Doing the same harvest chores I did as a child makes me aware of how long a tradition has been upheld. Teaching them to my granddaughter is legacy in action. Finishing traditional ways of following the season gives you stamina in body, mind and spirit.
Hearing – Intuition for what you will need during the upcoming colder weather comes from your common sense of hearing. Inspiration for what you want to change in your life or how you want to stock your pantry shelves all come from your common sense of hearing. All new ideas begin in your common sense of hearing. Take the time in this busy season to listen to your thoughts. A well thought out plan saves and enormous amount of time later on. All the stamina that you need for harvest chores begins with being calm. Being calm during late summer requires a plan of action.
