Pumpkin Spice Is Not in Charge of Fall
Every year, sometime around late August, pumpkin spice kicks down the door and announces that fall has arrived.
Never mind that it is still 87 degrees outside. Never mind that the air conditioner is running, the mosquitoes are thriving, and nobody in their right mind is ready to wear a wool scarf.
Pumpkin spice has spoken.
And listen—we have nothing against pumpkin. Pumpkin is wonderful. We even invited it into our Crisp & Cozy Scone Collection, where it is currently having a very good time with some crushed gingersnaps.
But pumpkin does not own fall.
Fall is bigger than one squash with an excellent publicity department.
Fall Is a Feeling
Fall does not officially begin when a coffee shop changes its menu or when someone places three decorative gourds on a porch.
Fall begins when you step outside one morning and suddenly notice the air.
It is cooler. Crisper. Different.
You start thinking about opening the windows. You remember that hot coffee exists. The oven no longer feels like an enemy. Somewhere in the distance, a leaf lands dramatically on the ground as though it has been rehearsing the moment all summer.
That is fall.
Fall is also the season when ordinary activities suddenly become “cozy.”
Drinking coffee? Cozy.
Reading a book? Cozy.
Sitting under a blanket while watching television? Extremely cozy.
Eating a scone while avoiding every productive thing you planned to accomplish that day?
The height of seasonal living.
Fall Has Better Snacks
Summer food is nice, but much of it is built around the concept of trying not to cook.
Fall food wants the kitchen back.
Apples get baked. Pears get spiced. Walnuts get toasted. Cranberries reappear after spending most of the year wondering why nobody calls them. Ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange, currants, and butterscotch all start behaving as though they have been waiting backstage for their big entrance.
And then there are scones.
Scones do not merely participate in fall. Scones understand fall.
They belong beside hot coffee on a cool morning. They belong at Sunday brunch, at the kitchen table, inside a gift box, and hidden in the back of the freezer where nobody else in the household knows to look.
A scone does not demand a special occasion. It creates one.
The Great Autumn Personality Change
Fall also inspires people to become entirely different versions of themselves.
Someone who has never willingly walked more than two blocks suddenly wants to hike through the woods and “see the foliage.”
People who do not cook begin discussing soup.
Everyone develops strong opinions about cider.
We purchase decorative pillows that say things like Gather and Grateful, even though nobody is allowed to sit against them.
We drive an hour to pick apples that were available five minutes away at the supermarket. We pay admission to walk through corn. We bring dried leaves into the house and act surprised when they crumble everywhere.
None of it makes much sense.
That is why it is wonderful.
Fall gives us permission to romanticize everyday life. A chilly morning becomes an event. A cup of coffee becomes a ritual. A box of scones becomes the centerpiece of an afternoon.
More Than Pumpkin
At Skonzies, we wanted this fall to taste like the whole season—not just its most famous flavor.
Yes, there is pumpkin. But there are also pears, apples, ginger, almonds, brie, cranberries, orange, Grand Marnier, black currants, walnuts, warm spices, and butterscotch.
Because fall can be bright and crisp. It can be deep and spicy. It can be sweet, savory, familiar, surprising, elegant, messy, and unapologetically comforting.
Sometimes fall tastes like pumpkin.
Sometimes it tastes like pear and ginger.
Sometimes it tastes like apple and brie.
And sometimes it tastes like eating a apples and brie scone in complete silence so nobody asks you for a bite.
Let Fall Be Fall
You do not need the perfect flannel shirt. You do not need an elaborate porch display. You do not need to visit an orchard, navigate a corn maze, or drink anything containing the word “foam.”
Just notice the first cool morning.
Open the window.
Make the coffee.
Warm up a scone.
And enjoy the brief, glorious stretch of the year when the weather is beautiful, the flavors are richer, and nobody questions why you are eating something buttery before noon.
Pumpkin spice may be loud.
But scone season has officially begun.
Cheers mates!
~Skonz
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