A living calendar of ecological intelligence. Twenty-four solar terms guiding food, movement, and daily life.
What to cook, what is in season, and how food supports your body through each term.
Eat with the seasonMovement adapts to season. Each term offers a practice suited to the body's current needs.
Move with the seasonWhat to plant, when to harvest, and how to work with the soil through each solar term.
Grow with the seasonPhenology for everyday life. What to watch for each term: birds, buds, insects, weather shifts.
Observe natureA cyclical system of time rooted in observation of climate, growth, and life patterns. Each solar term is a two-week field note — what changes, what to do, where to go next.
Recent guides and seasonal insights
Autumn does not arrive in a day — it arrives across a six-week process spanning three solar terms: Start of Autumn (立秋), End of Heat (处暑), and White Dew (白露). Learn to read the staged signals — light first, then dew, then animal behavior — so you move with the season before the temperature ever changes.
A row-by-row guide to August vegetables: nightshades and sweet corn at their zenith, the cucurbit glut, the first winter squash, allium harvest and curing, and seed-saving — anchored in the solar terms Start of Autumn (立秋) and Limit of Heat (处暑).
Start of Autumn (Liqiu, 立秋) is the 13th of the 24 solar terms and the official beginning of autumn in the traditional Chinese calendar. It marks a directional turning point — summer's expansion peaks and begins yielding to autumn's contraction weeks before temperatures follow. This guide explains what Liqiu actually marks, the autumn tiger, the 72-pentad phenology, and the traditions of 贴秋膘, 咬秋, and 晒秋.
Winter calls for deeply warming, nourishing foods that support the body through the coldest months. These three classic recipes — lamb stew, eight-treasure congee, and tang yuan — are traditional winter solstice fare.
Autumn does not have one start date. Meteorological autumn begins September 1. Astronomical autumn starts at the equinox, around September 22–23. In the 24 solar terms, autumn begins earlier, with Start of Autumn around August 7–8. Each system measures a different kind of seasonal change.
July's garden demands daily attention. From deep watering strategies to succession planting, here's how to keep your garden productive through the hottest weeks of the year.
Walking in July is about timing. Learn the best hours, routes, and practices for comfortable summer walking — from dawn patrols to night walks under the stars.
Comprehensive FAQ covering all 24 solar terms — what each term means, when it occurs, what foods to eat, how to practice seasonal wellness, and what natural changes to observe. Organized by season for easy browsing.
What to do right now. Twenty-four solar terms guiding daily action.
About this site →The worldview layer behind seasonal practice. Maps how seasonal timing shapes food, body, earth, story, and ecology.
Explore the Atlas →Specialized depth in food, body, earth, story, and ecology.
How it connects →Each season activates a different part of life. Follow the rhythm and the system unfolds.
These practice sites are anchored by Atlas of Heritage — the civilizational knowledge graph that maps the concepts, systems, and domains behind seasonal living.
One email every solar term: one action, one recipe, one movement. No noise. Just timing.