We are into August already and the berries and fruit trees are ripening early this year. Soon I'll be getting ready to gather as many empty glass jars as I can for jams and pickles to last for the 4 or 6 months ahead. Already there are black currants, plums, crab apples, tay berries and in a couple of weeks the elderberries. Last year we make hedgerow jelly with rosehips, haw berries and black berries. Pear and cider apple chutney, and a few others that I can't remember the wonderful things we put in. The veg garden is growing in abundance and all around us countryside is bursting with wild food for foraging. Sitting in the garden drinking mint and lemon balm tea from the wild knot of herbs, I wonder what adventures our family blackbirds have had this summer. Always meeting me at dawn with their song and never far away during the day. Their beautiful singing balancing the energies of the new day. Early last Spring I started painting the Celtic Festivals and have finally finished all 8. I love the colours of the seasons here in the UK. The warm bronze and rusts, golds and earthy browns of Samhain to the gentle yellows, greens and violets of Ostara. I will soon have all of these ready for prints and I'll be making card sets for the 'Wheel of the Year'.
