It was when I was walking back from the woodshed with a basketful of logs at the end of a sunny afternoon a few days ago that I noticed it. The sun was setting, visibly later in the day, drawing the evening out. In a hasty last burst of energy before dropping below the horizon, the golden ball in the sky was playing hide-and-seek with a lacy veil of dark grey clouds rolling up from the south. I was in awe of this striking spectacle of light, of course I was, but it was something else that caught my attention. …

The Wheel of the Year turns and we are now at the Spring Equinox, a moment of equilibrium when night and day equalise and the start of the light half of the year. We briefly rest on the point of balance before allowing ourselves to jump into the new season with both feet!

Spring bulbs are popping up in the garden and adding delightful nuggets of colour in every corner. The crocuses in the grass in the little woodland are my favourite. I plan to add to them each year to create a crocus lawn as time goes on. Seedlings …

Our little flock of six hens is keeping us well stocked up with eggs at the moment and we sell our surplus via an honesty stall at the top of the drive. At the beginning of the year, though, we had to go and buy eggs because production had gone right down and that went on for several weeks. Out of our six hens, only two are young and productive, although last Winter, at the end of their first laying year, even they stopped laying after their big moults. The other four are getting rather old: Mother Hen Betty is …