September 19, 2019

Falling into the equinox and getting ready for everything pumpkin

Fall is always a favorite time of the year for many.Living in the mitten state, we have grown to love the crispness of the air in the evenings and the opportunity to pull out hoodies and cozy sweaters, build bonfires, watch football and, of course, EVERYTHING becomes flavored with pumpkin spice - which, by the way, contains no pumpkin but more on that later.

Monday, September 23, at 3:50am EST marks the fall equinox, the exact moment the sun crosses the celestial equator; which is an imaginary line in the sky that corresponds with the Earth’s equator. The sun will rise at 7:22 am and set at 7:30 pm EST, creating an almost equal amount of day and night. From this moment on, the nights grow longer, and the days grow shorter until mid-December.

Fall is also a great time, for lack of a better term, to do spring cleaning! Flip your ceiling fans – fans should rotate clockwise to draw room air up and force warm air down. Test your smoke detectors and install fresh batteries. Have your furnace cleaned and checked to make sure it is working at optimum efficiency. Clean out the gutters - or have someone do it for you because it can be a really icky job :) and clean out sheds and garages. Check with your local municipality about Household Hazardous Waste Days - many communities have these twice a year, once in the summer and once in the fall. Others may offer this more often or have a drop off place to dispose of pesticides, pool chemicals, motor oil, paint, etc.

Fall is the time to plant spring bulbs and the perfect time to plant young trees.
Remember, with the days getting shorter, you will use more lights – try and turn off lights when they are not necessary!

Finally, just so you know … Pumpkin Spice is easy to make:

• 3 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 ½ teaspoons allspice
• 1 ½ teaspoons cloves.

Add it to whatever you like!

Related Articles