How to Pay Attention This Week

The food that simmers in our pots and is chopped on our cutting boards is a guide to the cycle of the seasons

I wrote once that I could tell the time of year by the kitchen counter in our home, and this week, I was reminded again of this exact thing. The counter is covered in layers of dusty-skinned squashes, the last of the tomatillos and tomatoes, peppers, fall herbs, and an abundance of apples. Nearby are the piles of garlic and onions ready to transport the harvests of late summer and mid-fall to a hearty and wholesome meal while the beans, herbs, or seeds dry amongst it all.

There is a theme of endings and beginnings amongst it all. The feelings of transformation from the growing season to winter are upon us as I watch the leaves change through the kitchen window as the north wind hits the house, and the counters have shifted tones in the last few weeks.

Sometimes, the layers of things that gather in the kitchen go unnoticed. The orange and red-toned sea of tomato harvests amongst the layers of basil, peppers, and other abundant and fragrant herbs can become more of a task than a reflection at the height of summer. There can be a moment of overwhelm, but this is a conversation on what season we are in.

But now, we are here in this space of transitioning that, for a moment, the apples sit amongst the tomatoes and are cooked with the squash. This is a precious and fleeting time when these things can coincide in freshness outside of needing to be brought back to life from the freezer or a can.

In the last few weeks, I noticed that as the weather cooled, I was no longer eating tomatoes raw anymore. I desired to simmer them slowly into jams, sauces, and even stewy additions to sourdough instead of how I ate them just sliced raw in the height of summer with some unfiltered olive oil and flaky salt as if that was enough for a meal. Maybe it is the longing for something warm after a cool day in the garden, or maybe it is the desire to feel the heat of the stove on my hands; either way, this ending of the tomatoes that blends into the first roasting of the squashes is a gift we must pay attention to this week.

Years ago, when we moved back to Michigan, I was reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and the idea of eating hyper-local became my goal. I have had moments where I have been better than others, and so when we talk about local eating as a way to pay attention, I want to note that eating local isn’t an all-or-nothing thing. Instead, it is somewhere in the middle where you will ebb and flow through what works for you and your life in the moment you are in. You will find times when you cook an entire meal with 90% local items. Then others where it could be closer to 1%. All of this is okay, and I want to note that. We are all traversing various seasons and growing in this process, so please note that this is a journey, not anything more.

What I find that keeps me flowing in this journey of eating as local and in the season as possible is how it brings more awareness to the movement of the seasons, creates connection amongst the community, and grounds me in gratitude for nature.

Using food to pay attention to this season comes in many forms and ways it naturally fits into your life. This is a simple way to observe the shifts and change from abundance to rest in the seasons, and how you do that may look different for you.

Below, you will find a guide to what, how, and why to pay attention to this week of Autumn.