Oh dear, oh dear... are you still with me, dear Readers? A whole four months have passed since I last posted on this blog, a whole season and more! The combination of a busy Summer season and some procrastination on my part accounts for this gap in my more regular musings. I remember the beginnings of a Summer Solstice blog formulating in my mind, then one about the joy of first harvest but I have had to let go of both of these as time passed and neither of these write-ups made it out of my head unfortunately. Being a …

Our little spot in the hills of Mid-Wales is alive and in full growth. The bird population is at its peak as the young have now fledged and some are coming to the feeders with the adults. The grasses in the fields have turned to seed and have now reached well above my knees! Our tiny flock of sheep cannot graze the grass fast enough at this time of year and our Shetland ewe lamb easily disappears from sight in there! To my delight, I have spotted a few wild orchids in the meadow. The honeysuckle in the lane is …

Yesterday, the Summer Solstice marked the shortest night and the longest day. Right now, we are experiencing a peak in the amount of daylight hours… We can still see some faint light when we go to bed in our West facing bedroom and the dawn chorus begins at around 4 am when the earliest of birds begin their singing and calling. Darkness has been squeezed out to a confined few hours which leaves plenty of time to connect with the fullness of Summer present all around us at the moment.

When I walk around our smallholding, all I can see …