Michelle Lyons

hedge feasts

September…back to school, shortening days turning to gold. My fingers are stained purple making elderberry syrups and tinctures to ward off colds and flu during winter. Golden days walking at the lake, waiting and watching the hawthorn berries to ripen, stopping to feast on blackberries, enjoying the shift of seasons as the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer. The swallows are congregating on the telephone wires, enjoying their last days here before leaving for Africa – ‘they’ve got the urge for going, and they’ve got the wings to go’. Autumn is my favourite time of year – this ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness..’

out the kitchen window

(not to mention apple crumbles and pumpkin pie!), the trees wearing their finest before the leaves dance down on the breeze, oncoming Halloween, the end of the Celtic year, Samhain, the start of the new year, and a chance to begin again…September, a time of learning and loving life.