A nudge from Autumn
Noticing, collecting and maybe creating with the season
Hello, I’m Rachel. I write about nature and creativity to encourage connection and wellbeing. This is from my collection of posts to nudge you to connect with nature, noticing, collecting, and maybe even creating. To read other posts from this series, go to my homepage and click on the nudge from nature tab.
A nudge from nature - Autumn calling
It is autumn, meteorologically and astronomically and on the south coast of UK, the weather has caught up. Nights are drawing in, the mornings are chillier and there’s a dampness in the air even if when it’s not raining. The sea temperature is dropping so the neoprene is coming out amongst my fellow swimmers. But, the sun has still made plenty of appearances and I have regularly made the wrong clothing choice by wearing too many clothes.
How do you feel about Autumn? (I’m writing this from England, hence autumn not fall but I hope this post fits any location that has a season between the hot and cold periods) Are you welcoming it, dreading it, indifferent? I know many find its arrival hard, or the whole season. I asked on my notes (substack’s version of Instagram or Twitter) how people felt about it and the common answer was struggling with the shorter days despite enjoying the autumn colours and special light.
But… maybe it’s not so much about Autumn but the loss of summer and a downwards slope towards winter? I get it, so much about winter is physiologically hard and can have such an effect on our wellbeing. But we can’t blame autumn for that, it has so much to offer in itself (so does winter but we’ll deal with that when it comes).
So throughout autumn, I’m going to do some cheerleading for it. One reply to my note talked about having a different story this autumn so I encourage you to muse on your autumn story. There will still be warm days, there are still flowers in bloom, in September there is still enough strength to the sun to get our dose of Vitamin D. Blankets and Hot Chocolate are still just a nice to have rather than a necessity. There are things we can do at home to help (and there are plenty of blogs, posts and youtube videos with ideas) but I want to encourage you to keep getting outdoors, to keep connecting with nature.
Here’s my Autumnal nature toolkit
Noticing
Autumn is like Spring in a way. They might be viewed as a shoulder or secondary season and just the warm-up act (or cool-down) for the season that follows but I think they are the seasons where there is the most to notice. They might be smaller signs than the big shouty ones everyone thinks of like flowers, the dawn chorus, frost and snow but there is still plenty to see.
Take a slower walk, even just your usual work to work, or shops. Or a more deliberate trip to a park or open space, maybe you have a garden, or one to visit. What is your eye drawn to?
Maybe it’s colours? It’s the first thing everyone thinks of. But it’s not just the changing leaves, but the berries and seeds that are replacing the flowers. Reds, browns, oranges, purples, a quieter palette but think the rich glossiness of a conker or the vivid lipstick red of rosehips.
Maybe it’s the shapes? The variation in the leaf shapes as they flutter from the trees and blanket the ground. The weird and almost alien-like fungi. We might think all berries are round, but take a closer look and rosehips can be spherical or more elongated, conkers defy any conventional 3D shape classification.
Maybe it’s the textures, the tiny bumps and spikes of a beech or hazel nut or the feathery strands of Old Man’s Beard (aka Wild Clematis)
Maybe it’s the elements? Shadows and silhouettes, the special light of autumn sunrises and sunsets. The tiny worlds mirrored in water droplets. My eyes are always drawn to the silhouettes of umbellifer seedheads.
Collect
One thing autumn has over the other seasons is there is so much more we can pick up, hold in our hands then display on mantlepieces. As long as plenty is left for the animals, and you’ve foraged it safely (sticking to things you know). Tuck acorns in your pockets and twizzle conkers in the palm of your hand, sweet chestnuts need a little more thought and protection against their prickles but the benefit is they can be eaten as well as admired. Fallen leaves can be taken home and admired. Bring the outdoors in. Giving these treasures a temporary home brings a small glimmer to your day when you can’t have the full experience.
Maybe your food shopping can bring a bit of seasonal joy, pumpkins aren’t only for display at Halloween and with the other squash cousins come in a range of colours, shapes and textures along. Take a moment to look at (and feel) the wrinkly texture of cavalo nero and kale, or the bright stripy stalks of swiss chard.
Photograph
What’s in your phone camera roll? Mine is about 70% (ok 90%) nature, from plants on the pavement, and insects in the garden to wide open landscapes on the Downs and sea. We might want to preserve our time in nature as technology free but I think the amazing camera on our phone can be a way to connect more deeply. Not just taking a quick snap that we don’t look at again, but taking time, to decide what to photograph, getting the right angle and light. It means you see more details and connect with what you’re looking at more deeply. Even yesterday’s dog walk up the road had me getting my phone out to take the photo of the Wild Clematis above. Then you get to look at these photos later and prolong the effect. I’m doing a course in Nature Connectedness and have learned that just looking at a photograph of nature brings positive physiological responses.
Write/draw/create
Then, maybe, you might be inspired to create. One of my favourite activities as a teacher was taking in a huge bag of conkers, tipping them onto a tray, and seeing the art the children created. Maybe you spend time in a wood creating patterns with the leaves. Have a look at Andy Goldsworthy’s work for inspiration. Maybe you invent descriptions for all the colours on the forest floor. Maybe you get a stack of coloured pencils or paints out to colour match the autumn leaves.
Maybe you write a haiku about the way a conker feels in your hand. Maybe you scribble in a notebook about the light of an early misty morning as you stand on your doorstep with a cup of tea. As I’m walking, ideas, descriptions, and sentences often appear in my mind to be hurriedly typed into my phone or scribbled on my return.
Maybe you tuck a sketchbook and pencil in your pocket and doodle the rosehips or sloes in the hedgerow. Or if you braved the rain, or don’t have time to stop, draw something you’ve collected once back home. It doesn’t have to take long (though it can if you want to). It doesn’t have to be shared or displayed, it’s a calm, creative moment with nature.
So how do you feel about autumn? What do you like about it? Might you try some of these things and see if you can change the story you have about autumn and enjoy what it can offer? Let me know in the comments.
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I'm an autumn fan! Like you wrote, there is so much to discover in this season. I find there is a coziness to it, a slowing down and there is a certain kind of magic to it, as if the veil to wonder would be thinner. Lovely reminders to go outdoors and notice.
Lovely post Rachel and you are still swimming? Will you continue to swim throughout the autumn and winter? I love autumn - I never used too. I was very much a spring and summer girl. It’s the thought of having less light, colder, damper days. With age I have learned to embrace this time of year and get cosy and of course, there is so much inspiration in nature to create art. My favourite activity is finding mushrooms and then painting them. Got love a conker though! 🌰🌻🧡