First of September

So here it is September already, leading into the last three weeks of this sunbaked summer. September’s color is golden-yellow for the ripe grain, success, and balance at the center.

My late summer garden.

September is a wild, unpredictable month. Many people are preparing to go back to school, but my teaching cycle has just ended and I’m not sure when it will resume. I feel excited, awake, and a little anxious.

I have free time now to work around the house and yard, finish projects, and tinker with new ideas. I look under rocks and turn things upside down, sorting out the notions that come to me, holding each up to the light to see if it’s a keeper. I want to remain open, centered in myself, and ready to respond to whatever life brings me.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal:
Because much of my life seems to be in transition right now, I posted these questions on a sticky note in my journal, to answer throughout the month:

What is my pivot point today? (Where is my center?)
What baby step in a new direction might I take?
How can I celebrate this new direction (express it visually, integrate it with my teaching, share it with friends and family)?

From my journal: Today my pivot point is my garden- a little bedraggled and worn, but still beautiful. The new direction I plan to take is to experiment with an abstract painting, with the colors I see in our garden (gold, brown, orange, green, and pink). I am letting go of form in order to better express my feelings.

2. Work in the late summer garden:

Rooted- acrylic on canvas.

Grounding and a good connection to the earth makes the big changes go smoother. I stand firmly planted in the garden and call on it's quiet strength and solidity to sustain me through the confusions of this month. 

The summer has been dry, but with the rain we got over the weekend, our garden has new pep. With a little effort now the garden will shine for two more months with fall blooms and tasty vegetables.

1. Weeding: It's time to get all the weeds out. If weeds survive now they will produce enough seed to last for years! (I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, thinking about pulling bindweed from under the hedge...)
2. Planting: I planted fall spinach on Sunday, and next I need to put in a cover crop of fava beans in the back fence bed, from where I harvested the garlic.
3. Harvest green beans, tomatoes, raspberries, kale, peppers, and bok choy! I’m also going to gather nasturtium seeds (They need to dry for a week before I store them).
4. Store seeds: Once they are dry I will put all my seeds into zip-lock bags in the refrigerator, near the bottom, away from the freezer. (Note to self: Next spring, take bags out but keep them closed until the seeds warm, so moisture in the air doesn’t condense on the seeds.

3. Make seed bars:

I finally perfected a seed bar recipe! -just the right amount of crunch and chew and no crumbling! This seems like the perfect golden food to celebrate the end of summer.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c. of raw seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, poppy, flax, etc.) 
• 3/4 c. rolled oats
• 1/4-c. unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. peanut butter
• 1/4-c. honey
• 3/4 c. chopped dates

Yield: 20 bars-

1- Line an 8 x 8” pan with waxed paper (hang it over the edges for easy removal). Preheat oven to 350º.

2- Combine seeds and oats, and roast lightly in a dry frying pan, then pour into a bowl.




3- Combine in a pot: butter, brown sugar, peanut butter, honey and chopped dates. Heat until butter is melted and dates begin to dissolve- about 4 minutes.

Before baking.

4- Take off the heat, and add the seeds and oats. Stir well then pour into the prepared pan and press firmly. Bake for 18-20 minutes. 

5- Put the pan directly into the refrigerator to chill until firm. Pull the cake out of the pan by lifting the waxed paper, then cut into bars.