Autumn! My Favorite Season
My Road Goes Ever On
Autumn! My Favorite Season. After the heat of summer, I look forward to sharp breezes, and earthy colors blazing across the land. The season teaches and nourishes my spirit.
As a kid, raking leaves in my backyard in Milwaukee and piling them into grand mounds – then jumping in – remains one of my best memories. When my husband and I moved to rural Illinois, I raked prodigiously, trying to gather all the leaves from our vast backyard, thinking that such an old, familiar habit must be the right thing to do. The kids loved jumping in the leaf piles, so my exertions seemed justified. Until the year I was so advanced in pregnancy that it was impossible to stretch much less rake leaves. At that point, I resigned myself to clearing away a mess of old leaves the following season.
In the spring I discovered, to my great surprise, that the old leaves were gone. Natural forces had worked a miracle of collaboration that I had little imagined possible, turning the old leaves into rich soil and feeding the land. The longer I lived in the countryside, taking my children out for nature walks, sitting on the back porch and enjoying the sport of birds and insects, attempting my many versions of a garden, I have learned the same lesson repeatedly – nature doesn’t make junk. God’s created world takes care of itself in a slow, cyclical, recreation process.
These days, my problem is packaging. Thank goodness we have a recycling center near our home where I can drop off old cans and worn-out tech gadgets. Glass and plastic remain a challenge. I wish I could toss them into the compost heap near the garden. That magical process has fueled some gigantic zucchini, tomato, pepper, and cucumber plants over the years.
I’ve become so guilt-ridden over unrecyclable, non-compostable, non-reusable glass and plastic packaging that I have started to pay for higher-priced items if they are packaged in recyclable material. Thank goodness the oats container is still made of cardboard! I get giddy over paper. Well aware that milk has a shorter shelf life if not packaged properly, I would still take my chances on a recyclable package than the containers that fill my trash every week.
In the same way that I had to reconsider my leaf-raking habit, I review my buying habits to reflect more thoughtful living. Making meals from frozen garden produce, eating less meat, planning simpler menus, and buying less stuff has awarded me a peace of mind and heart I hadn’t thought possible. Growing up with the adage that every meal had to be magazine worthy, that products (healthy, beauty, utility) made life better and easier, reminds me of how a world of instant technology seems to have quadrupled the red tape in our modern systems. How many email addresses, passwords, and PINs must I memorize before I go mad in my advanced society? More stuff and instant dunners have not made me happier or healthier.
My kids have long since grown out of jumping into leaf piles, but we still enjoy the beauty of autumn foliage. The joy of the season remains despite a change of routine. I have no desire to climb on a bandwagon and beat the drums of personal or collective guilt. There are plenty of things I can do more thoughtfully each day. Packaging annoys me because it reminds me of the little things in life that make a big difference. It’s easier to stick with a comfortable routine, even if it doesn’t make sense. But easier isn’t always better.
This autumn, I only have one child left in our Frailey Family Homeschool, and she’s too grown up to jump in a pile of leaves. Instead, I’ll stroll across the land and admire the beauty of autumn as it whispers the wonders of restraint, simplicity, and recyclable packaging.
A. K. Frailey is the author of 18 books, a teacher for 35 years, and a homeschooling mother of 8.
Make the most of life’s journey.
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Photo https://pixabay.com/photos/autumn-leaves-border-frame-foliage-1649362/