Already leaning into the fall season
Once Labor Day has come and gone, I lean fully into fall. I know that technically autumn does not officially begin until Sept. 22, but for my own personal joy, I’ve decided to initiate the season sooner.
As I age and grow wiser, dates on calendars mean less and less. Instead, I do what intuitively feels good to my soul, and during this time of year, I’m always ready to say good-bye to summer and hello to fall.
With all this being said, I do things strategically and methodically to lengthen the arrival of the new season. I don’t pull out all the autumn decorations at once and purchase all things pumpkin spice or apple in one fell swoop. No, I do it slowly with the goal of enjoying each wonderful thing on its own. For instance, I recently purchased pumpkin spice creamer for my coffee but am only allowing myself the festive flavor a few days a week so as not to tire of it before we roll into the Christmas season. Similarly, while I may put a few natural pumpkins around the house early in September, I won’t fully decorate until later in the month because I know I’ll get sick of all the burnt orange and browns well before Thanksgiving if I do it too soon.
And let’s talk about apples. I feel like apples are definitely an early fall delight. We’ve been popping by Barber Orchards Fruit Stand routinely to purchase bags of apples and treats such as apple donuts, apple slushies and apple pies. The Apple Festival in Hendersonville already happened and orchards in our region are beaming with tourists and locals enjoying a pick-your-own adventure.
Another small pleasure this time of year are pumpkin muffins. Trader Joe’s makes the most delicious pumpkin muffin mix and only sells it for a couple months as a seasonal product. When the muffins are cooling, I drop in a few chocolate chips to offer additional sweetness. I only make these once a week and the kids get so excited when they wake up to the smell of pumpkin and chocolate. Along those same lines, I found a pumpkin oat cookie recipe that is also a favorite in our household. Maybe I’ll share that recipe in an upcoming Smoky Mountain News e-newsletter because it’s always a fan favorite.
In addition to the delicious flavors and smells of the fall season, who doesn’t love the crisp mornings and gorgeous autumn hues that will soon bespeckle the Blue Ridge Mountain range? I grew up in Weaverville, a mountain town very similar to Waynesville, and when my grandparents visited from Greenville, South Carolina, they loved driving up to Burnsville where the colors were a bit more vibrant than in town. We would collect the prettiest leaves we could find and then my grandma helped us iron them onto wax paper to make a leaf book.
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When you grow up in the mountains of North Carolina, the fall colors aren’t something that we view as a novelty or tourist attraction. For us locals, the stunning scenery becomes part of who we are, a backdrop to our everyday lives, and a very cherished gift for which we are extremely grateful.
Speaking of leaves changing colors, the biology department at Appalachian State University creates a yearly prediction map to help folks plan travel or fall hikes. We’ve included it with this column in case you need a little assistance planning your outdoor excursions for the next couple months, but remember, that this is simply a prediction and there will be variations.
There are other things happening now or on the horizon that make me excited for fall. In a few short weeks, the grounds of First United Methodist Church will be covered in pumpkins and then on Oct. 19, downtown Waynesville will be bursting with activity during the annual Apple Harvest Festival. The Mountain State Fair will be held Sept. 6-15 at the WNC Agriculture Center and the Haywood County Fair is Sept. 26-29 at the Smoky Mountain Event Center.
On the parenting front, we just started cross country season, which I absolutely love. We have three runners in our house, all at different schools, so our schedule will be packed with meets. There’s something very special about the sport of cross country and if you’ve ever had a child participate or if you’ve coached cross country or you were a runner yourself, you know what I’m talking about. Perhaps I’ll write another column about the magic of cross country.
You probably have different aspects of fall you’re looking forward to or maybe some of yours are the same as mine. No matter, it’s always fun to enter into a new season, especially one as welcoming and stunning as autumn in Western North Carolina.
(Susanna Shetley is a writer, editor and digital media specialist. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
