August, My Favorite Month

Once again this year, the Downtown Retailers Focus Group and Soroptimist International of Martinez held its second annual community street fundraising sale ("Another's Treasure") along Main Street on Sunday, July 17.  We are pleased that we raised $2,400 for the Soroptimists.  This helps with their scholarship program for women. 

Lughnasadh, traditionally celebrated on August 1, is the time to begin harvesting the fruits of the seeds - and dreams - planted in the spring. This midpoint between the Summer Solstice and the Fall Equinox is when the first grains are ready for harvest and the bounty offered by Mother Earth is ready to be processed and stored for the winter to come. The season of gathering in has begun.

For agrarian societies, (societies that depend on agriculture as its primary means for support and sustenance) carefully harvesting and preserving nature's bounty was the key to survival through the long Winter as well as making sure there were seeds to plant for next spring.. In our "modern" day culture, we tend to forget about these seasonal imperatives. After all, if we want fresh strawberries in January, we just go to the supermarket.  

In the warmth of the late-July sun, when tomatoes are barely starting to blush and the blackberries are still hard, tiny, and green, it's hard to rouse oneself from the joyous leisure of summer. Even the plants know that the season is getting ready to change, that it's time to produce the fruit that carries the food for the winter and the seeds to begin the cycle again next spring. 

The harvest season, which begins with Lughnasadh, is a time of "gathering in," of personal reflection on what we have "grown" in our lives and see what our life garden has grown this year. What did you plant last spring? What new projects or ideas have sprouted in your life? Are there new friends who are "feeding" you, who will be with you through the winter to come? What ideas have you sent out into the world? This is a time to pause and look around you, to see which of the seeds you've planted have taken root, grown, and borne fruit. Look closely, even in what seems like a weed patch, and see if there's something growing in there that you might harvest. Now is the time to make sure you "harvest" those gifts, the time to preserve them.; and it's the time to offer thanks to the Earth Mother and her Fairy helpers for all the glorious gifts the Season of the Sun has brought. 

On the 500 block of Main Street, we are celebrating the Outdoor Dining Pockets because August is the 13th anniversary of the brilliant idea of Dick Duncan's which created the pockets, made the 500 block a one-way street, and created an ambiance unrivaled in downtown Martinez. We have dubbed Mr. Duncan the "Godfather of the 500 Block."  Merchants have their own "Pocket" specials throughout the month. At White Rabbit we are offering "pocketbooks" or purses on special.