It does sound odd when you say it but that is exactly what I do. Not only harvesting and assessing what went well in the garden but also in my home and in my life. It is usually the tougher thing to face at times too as anything missing can not be just brought from the shop.
It all starts with changing my alter around, as I am cleaning and replenishing it I always ask for guidance from those past but this year one in general, my grandma. There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t talk to her, she has always been my guide. Things are added to the alter from the garden. I will trim things and add to it until the Autumn Equinox. Candles are lit, and incense burnt. Pausing to focus on harvest blessings, gratitude, and intentions. I will note down things that may come to mind, thoughts that have meaning, and thoughts to find the meanings of.
As I always have a birthday “melt down” by this time of year I have already started to process what needs to be done to help keep things moving in the direction I want it to. But now is the time that I start putting that intention out to the world, and try to resolve as many challenges as possible. I use the time I am physically trimming trees to represent the obstacles I have in life. Some branches are easier than others, some take a bit of skill and patience to get to the right part of the branch, whilst others are out of reach, needing more time, and help before they are able to come down, maybe even by a professional.
Everything from now until Samhain is in preparation for the up and coming winter. I don’t go through a spring cleaning phase, spring is for the garden. For me everything in the home is done in the Autumn. Well everything that can be done. As always I really want to get my house sorted out, clean, and organised. This is something I have been trying to do for at least the past 7 years. It would be lovely to get my home to a point where I just have to keep onto of it. Over those years though It has been getting better. Slowly but surely I started to buy furniture. Yes that is right even though I have had my own house since I was 18 I never really had functional furniture that could store things. Not for just around the home anyway. The kids always had what they needed in their rooms whilst the rest of the house had no furniture but lots of things in boxes. It would also be nice to get my work room back up and running. It has to be cleared of my youngest boxes, and things he no longer needs. Even though it isn’t at the top of my work list I have realised it will help no end, especially when it comes to earning money. I did show a few things on tiktok without having them up for sale and they went down really well. So that is promising and looking back, people really did seem to like the things I made. Not only that but as the years have passed I have gained even more skills and ideas. I do have to “compete” with everyone else’s home businesses, but if this is the only way any of us will have a chance at earning money than so be it.
We start the process of going the cupboards and have a stock take, it is usually why I do so much baking at this time of year as flour etc needs using up. Now we have a chest freezer I am looking forward to stocking it with some home made loveliness, and it is the perfect time to get help from my youngest, who loves baking. We are team in the kitchen, I am there to keep him on track, explain things, keep things safe. He is there to make sure I don’t hurt myself or end up doing something stupid like taking something out of the oven without oven gloves on.
I nest. If you follow me on any of my socials then you know I love nesting. Autumn is no different as I prepare to hunker down for winter. I will go through my wool and yarn stash sorting it out into either colours or projects. After the 5th of August is when I start thinking about Samhain and Yule. Another reason why I should get my workshop/art studio workable again is so I can make gifts. There is no way will I earn the money by then to buy gifts. I have to get use to this idea because I love buying people gifts as so much thought goes into each one.
My health needs a complete overhaul. There isn’t anything I can to heal my chronic illnesses, but with not being able to afford the gym or my lovely personal trainer anymore things have fallen a bit behind on that front. Right now I can not afford to eat just the food that won’t make me ill so I am currently having to try and balance that out, but that in turn will make me ill so I won’t have the right idea of how I am doing until I can stick to my recommend diet. Another reason why it is important to organise the cupboards and freezer.
What things do you prep for at this time of year?
The Proverbial Dandelion 