How to Have a Fall Picnic
When the government shuts down.
Determine to take a meal outside.
Decide where you’re going. And when. How about a small grove where filtered light dapples the understory? Or a lake edge at twilight? A wildflower meadow at noon? Your backyard?
With whom shall you picnic? Invite them, right now. Check the forecast to make sure the weather will be pleasant.
If you have a proper picnic basket, get it out. If you don’t, retrieve a tote or a cardboard box.
Add the non-food items you’ll need to eat a nice meal outdoors. The less weight you carry, the better. Skip plates and forks, if possible—you can eat with your fingers. I’ve started a tiny list of items below. Start packing the basket or stacking things nearby.
Go find your favorite book of poems. Add it to the basket. Or copy out a poem to leave under a rock—it will biodegrade.
Get food together. Probably you have food already in your kitchen, but if your cupboards are bare, plan your picnic after a trip to the farmers market or grocery. Food suggestions are below. What foods would make you happiest? What would delight your guest(s)?
If you have time, bake a cake. Take the whole cake.
Now pack your basket. Start with a bottle of wine if you can drink, along with a corkscrew and some cups. If your wine comes with a screw top, skip the corkscrew. If you’re not drinking, bring a bottle of sparkling water. Alternately, if you’ve been furloughed and can’t spend money, make a thermos of coffee or tea. Include a water bottle?
Tuck packages of food into the basket. You don’t need much, just enough to feel happy. Tip: don’t bring bananas. They get mushy. Also, if you’re bringing a food that’s wet (like potato salad) or could get squished (like grapes), pack it in a Mason jar. They are less likely to leak.
Don’t forget chocolate.
If you have a baby, remember the stroller.
When you arrive to your spot, consider spraying the reverse side of your blanket with bug repellent. Having had Lyme disease and not wanting to encounter ticks, I often spray the underside edges of my blanket. This is probably not necessary in Central Park.
Sit down and take a deep breath. Smell autumn in the air. Take a minute to describe that fragrance. What are its tones and undertones?
Feel the ground beneath you. Feel the sun and breeze on your face.
Look directly at the person you’re with and give them a big smile. If you’re alone, wrap your arms around yourself and give yourself a big squeeze. Think: “I wish Janisse could see me now.”
Say aloud, “It’s good to be alive, isn’t it?”
Get up and walk around collecting autumn foliage and a few wildflower sprays, if there are plenty. Make an arrangement (without a vase) in the center of your blanket.
Uncork the wine and pour adult drinkers a cup.
Ask, “When’s the last time we had a picnic?” Enjoy the conversation, if the question results in some.
Unpack the food. Partake. Leave your phone, if you have brought it, in the basket. Ask, “What the thing you’re enjoying most about your life right now?”
After you eat, steal a little nap.
Then say, “Want a hear a poem?” Read a favorite poem aloud. Let it sink in. Look again at your guest(s), directly in the eyes, and smile.
Say, “That was so nice. Thank you for coming with me.” Or when they say thank you, you say, “You’re so welcome. I’m so glad to be alive with you at this moment on Earth.”
Make a mandala with the leaves and natural objects you collected. Pack up, look around one last time, take a deep breath, say goodbye, and head home.
Tiny List for a Picnic
A large sheet to sit on (maybe one of those beautiful block-printed pieces of Indian muslin)
Bug spray
A cloth napkin for every person
Wet napkin in a plastic bag for hands
Candle & a packet of matches
Recommended by Kathy Amos—Music! Carry your phone with Spotify or other app. Play gentle, soothing music. It may be classical or folk music (Judy Collins comes to mind), perhaps piano or acoustic guitar music speaks to you. Play it at a low volume while you eat. When you have finished eating, turn off all sound. Let the air be filled with silence except the sounds of nature.
The Meal
Classic: Fresh bread, a salami, cheeses, crackers, raw veggies (celery, carrots, broccoli), fruit (grapes, strawberries, figs), nuts, and a bottle of wine or sparkling water.
Southern Touch: Pimento cheese sandwiches, boiled peanuts, watermelon wedges, fried chicken, potato salad.
Mediterranean: hummus, tabouli, pita chips, tzatziki, olives, grapes, baklava.
Vegan or Vegetarian: bean salad, chips, salsa, seaweed rice chips.
Poem Recommendations
“i carry your heart with me” by e. e. cummings
“Song for Autumn” by Mary Oliver
“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry
“When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver
“Gate C22” by Ellen Bass
“This Beginning May Have Always Meant This End” by Camille Dungy
“Traveling Together” by W. S. Merwin
“Difference” by Leonard Peltier
“Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota” by James Wright
“The Background Beyond the Background” by Pattiann Rogers
“The Here of Here” by Ann Fisher-Wirth
“The Way It Is” by William Stafford
“All Landscape Is Abstract, and Tends to Repeat Itself” by Charles Wright—recommended by Monica Miller
What Do You Want To Add To Our Lists?
Tell me and I will add it.
In Personal & Other News
🦬 I Hit the Kickstarter Launch Button on 10-5-2025, Which Is This Sunday
I have a new book coming out this fall: Journey in Place: A Field Guide to Belonging, a hands-on guide to getting to know and falling in love with your place. It will be released via Kickstarter. The launch is Oct. 5 and will run for 20 days, until October 25.
As of today, 255 people are following the Kickstarter project for Journey in Place.
The book will be available in four editions—hardback, paperback, audiobook, and electronic. In addition to books, a few limited-edition items will be available as add-ons. Those include Journaling Place, a series of Nature Journaling School, for $25; a 4-hour Place and Nature Writing Workshop; a 5-hour Eco-poetry Summit with guest teachers, to be announced; 2 place-based gourmet gift boxes; and an online Ask Me Anything.
If you are interested in supporting this deeply personal and meaningful project, please check out the pre-launch page and click “Notify me upon launch.” You’ll get a notice from Kickstarter the minute I hit the “Launch now” button.
This project originated on this Substack in 2024 with a correspondence course for paying subscribers called “Journey in Place.” Fifty-two explorations, one per week, became backbone chapters.
I have not shown the new cover to anyone, and the Kickstarter Pre-Launch page will be the first place you will see it. It’s a really witchy and cool cover by the man who designed the “Eat a Peach” album cover for The Allman Brothers.
Thanks to the team who helped me bring this book to life, especially all the amazing course participants. I thank developmental editor Hilary Vidalakis and line editors M.K. Creel, Dallas Anne Duncan, and Sue Kusch. Thanks to Silas Ray-Burns for photography and videography. Five writers contributed guest posts that appear in this book, and I thank Stephanie Cornais, Sheila Knell, Sue Kusch, Jeanne Malmgren, and Catherine Young.
🦬 Spend This Saturday With Me in Atlanta, Writing the Urban Sacred
I’m teaching a day-long workshop in Atlanta, Georgia on October 4—”Thresholds and Presence: Writing the Urban Sacred.” Cost is $199, which includes coffee, snacks, lunch, handouts, a copy of Craft and Current, plus a beautiful day.
Some people really like small groups, and I predict this one will be small. Thirteen people have signed up so far. The weather will be glorious and I am very excited to be doing this. Join me if you’re able.
The baby will be with me, and her travel-nanny will be along.
Registration closes Thursday night.
🦬 Update on the Course Edition of the Journey in Place Book
Fifty more copies of the Course Edition of Journey in Place, the book, went out this week. I have about 150 books left to mail.
Copies of this edition are being mailed to folks who registered for the course by becoming paid subscribers of Trackless Wild during 2024 at the level of
$99/year
$9/month for at least 11 months
Your copy of the book plus shipping and handling was included in the cost of tuition.
(I have since lowered the subscription rate for Trackless Wild to $33.)
If you are wondering about the status of your copy of the Course Edition, don’t feel shy about emailing me. I keep a Master List and checking your status on it is a simple matter.
🦬 Last Call for DNA Stories
My co-editor Hilary Vidalakis is nearing the end of our first pass through the anthology of DNA stories we are producing.
If you have a story about a DNA surprise and you have not sent it, please forward it to me at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at wildfire1491@yahoo.com.
If you have submitted a story for that volume, you should be hearing from us before long.
Hilary is saving me on this book. I could not do it without her. She’s an incredible editor with the lightest, most loving touch, and she is working her magic on these essays. We’ll have more information and pre-order links up soon.
Stay tuned.
🦬 If You Wish To Not Renew Your Subscription To My Newsletter
Heads up! If you wish to not renew your yearly subscription to Trackless Wild, you will need to turn off auto-renew. One of Substack’s policies—one with which I don’t agree—is to continue to charge yearly rates. That also means that if you subscribed in 2024 when the rate was $99, you will continue to be charged at that level. You may need to cancel your subscription and then re-subscribe, if you wish, at the $33 level.
Whatever you decide to do, I am deeply grateful for your presence, your eyes, your heart, your hands, your care. I know that some of you budget to support writers and the arts, and if I am one of your chosen recipients, many glorious and heart-shaped and chocolatey thanks to you.
🦬 Until Next Week
Be well, be wild, be of good service. Let me know how your picnic goes.
I love this! Thank you, Janisse. I threw myself a picnic birthday party on my sunset patio in the shade of my century-plus-old pear and apple trees. We sat out under the trees, occasionally picking up a pear or apple that fell and adding that to the feast, which was all food from the North Fork Valley where I live, including my deer-pork sausage bites from the sausage I make myself, each with a chunk of local goat-feta and half a local cherry tomato on top. We toasted with local gin-and-tonics and Clear Fork cider from the nearby orchards. It was the best birthday party ever!
Don’t forget the deviled eggs! If you aren’t have pimiento cheese sandwiches you can be fancy and have celery sticks stuffed with pimiento cheese, or cream cheese with chopped olives, or ants on a log. Finger food might also include brownies (we like ‘Gulf Ticket Brownies’ because mama wrote down the recipe on the back of a Gulf ticket. Or oatmeal raisin cookies