Celebrating the Fall Equinox

September 17- 22, 2024: A full Harvest Supermoon and the Autumn Equinox created quite a celebratory week. I wanted to honor this transition of the seasons and the weekend responded with picture perfect weather - so I celebrated how much progress I had made over the summer in my pollinator garden plus the completion of my year-long appreciation art project (soon to be revealed!).

As the full-moon arrived, I was completing the last of 76 small works I had created throughout 2024 in celebration of my approaching milestone birthday in October. The full moon always increases my energy levels so I rode that wave and enjoyed the thrill of seeing the finish line. I love the feeling of completion. Then the weekend arrived and I began my Autumn Equinox celebration.

There's a farm market a few miles down the road from us that I had never visited, so I decided to head there on Saturday. My first suprise was discovering a massive field of sunflowers in full bloom on the way! It was an amazing feeling to step into such a vast array of the sunflowers spreading out over acres into the distance.

Then I reached the farm market. DuVall Farm Market is a family-run farmstand, just built a few years ago, but it has a charming country store feel to it that was just what I wanted to enjoy.

I found small, decorative pumpkins and also discovered they sell pie pumpkins, so I decided to make some low-sugar pumpkin spice bread, for the Equinox, which I did. It was tasty and didn't cause a leap in my blood sugar, a win-win.

Sunday morning I woke early, eager to make my garden mandala to celebrate the Equinox. I felt both joy and gratitude for all the work I'd done expanding my pollinator haven. Now the growing season was ending. Only the late-blooming false blue indigo had new blossoms.

I gathered leaves and flowers to arrange with the mini-pumpkins into a mandala at the edge of my native plant garden. From spring though late August, I planted between 40-50 new plants (lost count!), both sun and shade lovers.

I arranged the pumpkins and plant materials into circles radiating outwards. I loved the way it looked, simple andcolorful.

Once I completed it, I sat at the edge of the garden looking at all my old and new plants, filled with appreciation for the sheer joy of creating something positive and life affirming.

I had thought a lot about creating a ceremony to accompany this garden altar, but in the end I just brought out a stool and sat with all my plants and thanked them for growing, for flowering and bringing me joy. Then I thanked the earth, the wind, the trees and plants and birds and all the other-than-human beings who have brought me such purpose and pleasure working here.

I reaffirmed my pledge to create habitats for them to find food and shelter and places to reproduce and support the healing and regeneration of the earth for all living beings. I closed my time in the garden with a small prayer of blessing and thanks, because I feel a true love and connection with nature I didn't feel until I committed to doing this.

My vision is simple - I want to create a wide path of reclaimed turf through our seven acres that is dedicated to pollinators and native plants and bushes, and keep learning how to design, improve and expand that.

If the idea of helping pollinators calls to you, you will find a lot of support and information at Wild Ones for how to begin rewilding any size yard.