I gather in
At last,
after the winter’s stone,
I gather mugwort from the village roads.
Feathered purple sage,
fresh mint,
lemon balm,
thyme’s purple flowers
and parsley’s drooping stars,
hang in my kitchen,
drying,
to save the scents of summer,
against the winter chills.
I gather the pearl-grey down
of cygnets
preening
on the dappled morning… Read more
Sustainable or regenerative?
Until I did my Permaculture Design Course with Steve Jones, I didn’t really pay attention to the words in the title. In my head ‘sustainable’ and ‘regenerative’ were synonymous, I hadn’t bothered to unpack them until I started to listen to Steve and Ian Steele, whose farm the course was held on.
Sustainable agriculture … Read more
20 + 20 + 20
It feels as if
The first years of my life was when I was being grown,
by others,
First in the womb,
Then home,
School,
Guides,
Friends,
World.
Then it seems I spent 20 years trying to grow myself,
to find my way,
start the path,
which feels like my own.
To hear my … Read more
Mothering
Mothering
When I became a mother,
I only had two,
I have been lucky to watch these babies grow, and stretch, and fill into
the young men they are becoming.
Their swelling, ripening,
shakes me off.
I am being phased out,
of the day-to-day mothering
which has been so consuming.
I feel … Read more
Listen to the land
I grew up in Kent, with parents who didn’t come from that area. Often during school holidays we would return home to where my mum grew up on the Welsh and Shropshire borders. It was evident, even as a young child, that this was where Mum felt was home.
As soon as I could drive, … Read more
How would it be if we started every day like this?
I have been reading ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ which is just one of the most beautiful books I have read in a long time. In it is Haudenosaunee Thanks Giving address or ‘The Words That Come Before All Else’ and I wonder how it would be if we all started our day with it, if we … Read more