The Lunacy Cycle
Spring bulbs for Autumn planting, September 2023
A seasonal school
I have just plotted out the year ahead…
Unintentionally guileless and all the worse for it. The year is already plotted out! As they have been since time immemorial. All years gone and all those to come. The schedule flows through us and round us whether we like it or not - whether we know it or not. And many of us don’t, disconnected as we are from the rhythms and wriggly beats of life. At Greentech Commons we intentionally reach out in all directions. We seek to reclaim our tiny place in the weave of nature’s mesh. Rooted, so to speak.
All we need to know will come from this.
A Point of Inflection
In the garden we will harvest a tiny crop, repair the beds and plant Spring bulbs between the full moon and the last quarter. We will make leaf skeletons from those that we don’t gather and bag for mould.
In the orchard we will forage for windfallen fruits and bake our first crumble in what is a major milestone in the woodland year. Any apples and pears we don’t use will be individually wrapped in paper and stored in wooden crates.
In the cabin we will curate seasonal bowls interwoven with leaves. We will light candles and mark the Equilux, sharing our thoughts on what the changes coming in the weeks ahead mean to each of us.
Rudimentary Corn Mothers will hold the spirit of the wheat for the winter, no less powerful for the splits in the dry stems from our clumsy braiding.
The year turns here.
Between the Living and the Dead
Garlic, onion sets, broad beans and winter hardy crops will go in, and we’ll learn about the migration of Berwick’s Swans.
We’ll mark our apple heritage with gatherings and games, eating, pressing and drinking. We’ll peel and carve others into faces, dunk them in salt water then let them shrivel into witches heads for Halloween puppets.
Pumpkin muffins will rise in the clay oven, with the bulk of the flesh souped up and spiced, served with cream and crispy bacon bits. Irish stew will simmer on the campfire and we’ll finish with cinnamon toast topped with sweet, fried apple slices.
Before we break, we will mark the final Fire Festival of the year and talk about the cycle of life; gathering up our last reflections from fading light captured in the coming darkness of winter.
Hibernacula
As temperatures drop and start to stay down, we will do as the world around us is doing and retreat for now. With everything good drawn deep underground, this is a difficult time for birds.
We will busy ourselves with chores. We will clean our garden tools ready for the Spring, and make our final checks around the garden (we must make sure that the soil has everything it needs for Winter). Spot checks on our winter crops are made from the back door.
Candles burn most of the day now, and we keep the fire stoked. With the full moon in Taurus we have a few moments left to answer all those remaining questions and learn our lessons from the year.
The lunacy cycle
Bare twigs and pine cones and the evocative aromas of sage and bay bring us to the end of the year at Greentech Commons.
That’s it for the moment; enough for now. The earth’s energy sits below our feet.
All that remains is for us to say our goodbyes and return to our kith and kin.
I can say that I am satisfied with the plan, but while all this makes perfect sense, I am prepared for the opprobrium.
It’s coming, as sure as Winter.