October at the Cottage: Falling Leaves & Samhain Whispers

October always feels like the cottage exhales – a soft sigh of woodsmoke and fallen leaves, a shift from the golden hum of late summer into the shadowed hush of autumn. The mornings arrive cool and silver, the afternoons steeped in amber light, and the evenings draw in earlier, carrying the promise of firelight and candles.

Out in the garden, Moo and Meow (our ever-curious goats) have been investigating every last pile of windblown leaves, convinced there must be treasure hidden beneath them. Meanwhile, Trixy the cat has declared herself Queen of Mischief for the season, darting through the hall with paws full of cobwebs or leaping dramatically into baskets where she most certainly does not belong.

Inside, Autumn and I have been working away on recipes for our own blends, warming oils to chase away the chill and grounding scents to honour the darker half of the year. There’s a certain rhythm to these evenings: jars and botanicals scattered across the wooden kitchen table, the air fragrant with herbs (that Moo tried to steal them! 😅🐐) and citrus peel, the faint bubbling of a pot on the Aga.

And then there’s Samhain. The turning of the wheel, when the veil thins and the air shivers with possibility. It’s a time of endings and beginnings, of remembering those who came before, of candlelit windowsills and whispered intentions. The season invites us to step closer to the fire, to gather with loved ones, and to prepare the home and the spirit for the long nights ahead. There’s beauty in the stillness of it, a magic that curls like smoke through every shadow.

So here at the cottage, we’ll be carrying lanterns into the garden, sharing mugs of spiced tea, blending oils with care, and listening to the goats bleat at the October moon while Trixy plots her next mischief.

Here’s to a month of falling leaves, flickering candles, and the quiet enchantment of Samhain.