food and spirituality

As we swirl into the Season of Autumn, we can celebrate in the spirit of the Season, using the gifts that are naturally offered.
We have become a very antiseptic society, although not much healthier. In truth, the immune system is strengthened through natural interaction with the world around us. That is, unless the world around us is filled with unnatural chemicals.
Anyway, if one has chosen to experiment with a reintroduction to the wild side of humans, one might consider an outdoor potato roast.
This method was used for years out on the farm, so I am a living, breathing testament to the fact that this produces no ill effects.
Take a number of potatoes sufficient to feed the group one is entertaining. We are experimenting with simplicity, so we will eschew use of tin foil.
Build a fire of twigs, logs, kindling in general, no charcoal, please. Remember, this is not about a trip to the store. Use no lighter fluid, a bit of very dry kindling or paper will start the fire, and you will need to be careful to let just enough breeze blow onto the fire to start well.
Get a nice fire started until you have ashes that will cover the potatoes that, as you will recall, are not wrapped in anything. The ashes will protect the potatoes from incineration so they will merely roast. Ashes from plain wood will be clean, so you should experience no ill effect from consuming the potatoes, covered with butter, after scraping off the ashes.
With the fire that should be just dying down, the glowing embers are as entertaining as a movie, and the crackling and popping sounds will be a new experience.
This out-of-door meal with Mom, Dad, and kids, will take time and cooperation. It is well worth slowing down to this pace to interact in a quiet and peaceful manner.
While the festivities develop, an interesting game is for someone to start a story. Each person adds one sentence to the story. The imagination and hilarity as the story develops is wonderful. And, how better to gain insight into each other's personal thoughts and attitudes?
Long and thin branches, probably 1 ½' long, can also rest in the red embers. When they catch fire, swirling these in the air provide fairy-like trails of red in the black night.
This doesn't have the shock effective of a crime story on TV, it is about something deeper.

A traditional rite of Autumn has been the harvesting and braiding of garlic. These beautiful braids lined with garlic bulbs can sometime be seen in gourmet stores. They are easy to produce yourself, and enhances the spiral into the Autumn season.
Autumn is the time for preparation for what should be a restful and introspective slow-down through the Winter Season. Harvests are the culmination of the busy and boisterous Summer Season. If you have harvested your garlic crop, a fairly easy undertaking in itself, you can go on to braid the garlic into beautiful ropes.
If you haven't chosen to grow your own garlic, check the local gardeners or farmers to find someone who will sell you several head of garlic with the long stems still attached.
You can make a lovely braid using about 20 head of garlic. If you think this is too many, you may be less healthy through this next Winter than you need be.

This is an activity for a cool and sunny day. In the spirit of swirling into the Autumn season, the use of the gifts of the galaxy are essential.
Start with 3 heads of garlic, long and strong tails still attached. By this I mean the stalk that stands above the ground as the head of garlic grows beneath. They will be lined up together with stalks trailing down toward you. Holding all 3 head steady (they will never move) take the tail from the left-most head and cross it over the tail of the middle head. Then take the tail from the right-most head, and cross it over the middle tail (which was originally the left tail).
Continue this very simple process, adding a head to the right or left, and incorporating or splicing the tail along with those already a part of the braid.
This is easy, beautiful, useful, and can be kept for your own use, given as gifts, or sold. They will keep far into the Winter if hung in a cool, dry location of your kitchen or pantry.
And most importantly, this is providing space for contemplation, self-sufficient exploration, and development and modeling of behavior of hands-on life skills.
Dependency on others not needed.