06/09/2025
These are the vibes I want for autumn. 🍂🕯️🍁
"That very month was September, and as fine as you could ask."
— A Long-Expected Party, The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
This month brings not only the long-awaited arrival of fall, but also the joyful celebrations of Hobbit Day around the world on (or near) September 22, the shared birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.
Over the past few months I have loved making these seasonal boards! So I began to brainstorm what autumn might truly look like in the Shire. Since Tolkien shaped it after the idyllic countryside of rural England, there’s much to imagine!
Aside from the grand preparations for Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday, here’s what I picture unfolding across Westfarthing, Buckland, and beyond:
I imagine, much like our own September, the trees would be heavy with apples waiting to be harvested and preserved.
There might be bundles of the last of Summer's herbs hanging to dry, filling smial kitchen's with their earthy fragrance.
The leaves would begin to change their colors though a few stubborn green ones still cling to their branches.
The pumpkins would surely be spilling out of gardens and onto round tables and stone pathways!
It would be prime time to forage for mushrooms with your favorite hobbit cousins! Maybe the little ones could be encouraged to sketch their findings in their nature journals 🤭
Hobbits, of course, are known for their love of bright colors (especially yellow and green) and you just *know* the best of their Fall attire would be on display! (And the Stoors, no doubt, eager to show off their favorite fall boots.)
I could see families gathering indoors as the days shorten, cozying up with handicrafts while pots of soup bubble away, filled with the last of summer’s vegetables. Perhaps some fine brown bread cooling and waiting to accompany it 😍
This, to me, is what fall hobbitry might be! And it's certainly one we can bring into our own homes as we craft little Shires of peace and plenty in the midst of this crazy (and dark) world of Men.
What are you most looking forward to this September? Will you be celebrating Hobbit Day? We’re preparing for a potluck feast here… now if only I could track down my fireworks guy. 🤣
