Element: Metal
Direction: West
Yin: Lung
Yang: Large Intestine
Emotion: Grief
Color: White
Flavor: Spicy
Harvest Time:
Feel the out-breath of this season. The leaves are letting go of the year’s abundance and reminding us to finish the harvest season and fall back into the Earth. We use this season as a time to harvest the last of the bounty and prep the beds and tools for the cool months to come. Nuts and seeds are collected for protein source or dispersed for next year’s growing season. Roots are unearthed before the ground freezes over. Berries and fruits are fully ripened. And the musky, earthen smells remind us that decay is here– mycelium, spores and fungal blooms.
September- Early Autumn
October- Mid Autumn
November- Late Autumn
What to Harvest:
Mushrooms
Roots
Berries
Fruits
Seeds
Nuts
Plants:
Alumroot root
Artist Conk
California Bay seed
Chantrelle
Chicory root
Devil’s Club root and bark
False Solomon Seal root
Hazelnuts
Horseradish root
Juniper berry
Oak acorns
Red-belted Conk
Sumac berry
Teasel root
Wild Ginger root
Food as Medicine:
Autumn is abundant with a contracting nature. While we reap the harvest of the seeds previously sown, we let go of the old, the rotten, the past. This awareness may influence our choice in foods that are more astringent and heartier.
As we organize and reflect from our scattered summer months, our body begins to focus. Sour flavored foods stimulate the body to do so. Recommended sour foods for Fall include: sourdough bread, sauerkraut, olives, pickles, leeks, azuki beans, dried plums vinegar, cheese, yogurt, lemons, limes, and rose-hip tea.
Autumn can either be very drying or dampening.
If you are in a dry habitat, moisten your body with foods such as: tofu, spinach, barley, pears, apples, persimmons and loquats, seaweeds, mushrooms, almonds, pine nuts, honey and various dairy products.
If you are in a damp habitat, or exhibit symptoms of excess phlegm, incorporate pungent foods and herbs such as: fennel, flaxseed, cayenne, watercress, garlic, onions, turnips, ginger, radish, daikon, nettles, elecampane root, and mullein. Simple, small, cooked meals can reduce toxic buildup and mucus.
how to prepare your meals
The weather is cooling down, and cooking methods involve more preparation as we move towards soups, stews and oven baked dishes. Root crops and cold weather greens grow more apparent towards the end of the month- requiring us to cook with less water, at lower heat and for longer periods of time. In this way, we can warm the hearth of the home and the heart of the body.