Pumpkin Spice – more than a flavor or scent.
The aroma of pumpkin spice is a soul calmer. It’s a reassurance that things will get better.
Many years ago, there was a lot going on at the farm. The “lot” was extremely stressful that filled me with hopelessness. It was the roughest patch thus far.
Pumpkin was one of my coping skills. When I went to the grocery store I’d start by the candles and pick up a Pumpkin Spice candle and take sniffs of it as I shopped. Kinda like sipping on a coffee while you went about your business. The turmoil in my world never went away, the pumpkin kept me somewhat level.
At home, pumpkin spice candles and air fresheners were around every corner.
Pumpkin equals fall which brings Thanksgiving which brings comfort food and family. I remember watching my Grandma make pumpkin pies in her farm kitchen. When I was younger I would only eat the filling. Now you have to have the whole pie to make it eat worthy.
Fall brings cooler weather and more indoors time. Memories of cooler days as a child meant a change in the menu. The soups, stews and sauces. Applesauce cooking on the stove, tomatoes stewing, peaches prepared to can.
Fall brought everyone together in the kitchen to savor and store the harvest through freezing, canning and jam making. And that brough cousins to play with while the adults did the work.
As I began my family fall was the magical time when you could rake leaves and watch them burn – only after jumping in them and re-raking over and over. Burning leaves is mesmerizing. Pulling a sweatshirt over your head to go out and clean up the flower beds while the boys played football in the yard. Red runny noses and cold ears that slip out of the hood of the sweatshirt marks the official fall season. Everyone came in for a crock pot full of wonderfulness that filled the belly - pay for hard work and play.
Did you ever notice the change of lawn mowing? There is a different aroma when mowing the lawn in the fall – even the grass changes in the fall.
The sun sleeps in and the lights go on sooner in the evening. When walking home at night from the barn in the fall, the warmth of my home shines through the windows. I know safety, goodness and love are within those walls.
Harvest is a double edged sword. There’s excitement when we start chopping that first pass in the field. There’s satisfaction seeing all the hard work, prayer and anticipation come to fruition as it is blown into the wagon. Soon thereafter the stress of getting it done before the snow flies replaces it.
There is a calmness as the fields are emptied one by one. You know the quietness of winter is coming and even though we don’t 100% hunker down and farming is never done there is a hope that there will be some quietness coming during the winter months.
Pumpkin spice is a booster that starts my “we’ve made it one more year” endorphins. My gratefulness percentage rises during this time. It’s time to look back and check off all the events and things that God brought us through. The rain that came just in time, the machinery that held up that shouldn’t of, the injuries that were spared, some years it was another wigglie added to the family.
Fall is like a reset button for me.
Pumpkin spice is the quiet moment before the hustle and bustle and joy of Christmas comes jingling in.
Pumpkin spice is the official wave of the flag for fall. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Thankfulness.
