Notes from The Outpost: Fall Changes

In the Outpost Village we immerse ourselves in nature and ask what we can learn from the world around us. We spend every day in the forest, looking out for new and familiar sights, scents, sounds, sensations. If we pay attention, there’s so much we can learn from watching the fall roll in and the summer melt away.

The days shorten and the weather cools down. The wind sharpens its bite. The leaves on the trees change, treating us to a beautiful symphony of color before they’re let go. Plants slow their production of fruits and flowers and soon stop altogether. Animals begin their stockpiles while the harvest is still abundant and prepare themselves for the cold winter ahead.

All of this may seem obvious. It happens this way every fall. But if we listen closely, we might recognize an invitation to join in. Following the lead of the trees, we can direct our energy inward and reflect on the year that’s passed. Though there’s no need to stockpile food in our modern world, we might emulate the animals and take a spiritual inventory. This time of year, we savor the sweetness of the remaining flowers and fruit a little bit more knowing that their time is limited with winter around the corner.
Tuning in like this, it makes sense that the Jewish high holidays are in the fall. On Rosh Hashana we celebrate all the good from the previous year and stockpile it in our dens, doing our best to carry it forward with us into the year ahead. On Yom Kippur we have the opportunity to let go of anything we’d like to leave behind and enter the year ahead with only what we need. On Sukkot we celebrate the harvest, expressing gratitude for the earth’s abundance before the stillness of the winter.

Fall is the time to slow down and reflect. It’s the time to reconnect with yourself and your community and start the year on the right foot. And we in the Outpost Village believe there’s no better place for reflection than deep in nature. So, we invite you to take a walk through the forest this fall and listen closely to what it tries to tell you.