From Autumn Equinox, 21st September, the sun’s strength diminishes until the Winter Solstice, when the sun grows stronger and the days become longer than the nights. This is the time of year we can look back to the abundance of the harvest and prepare for the coming months.

Since coming to Wales, the changes in the seasons and the weather are more obvious. A neighbour visited yesterday, leading her young horse and we talked about the past few months. While our focus has been Bramble Avenue, digging decades of poo from our cow byre, cutting down dead and damaged trees for firewood and freezing or potting up the produce we’ve grown or been given, the farmers are overwhelmed with an abundance of animal feed. From one cutting of their fields in June, they have twice the silage, more than they would usually get from two cuts. This profusion of lush grass is the product of the sunshine and rain at the right time this year so changeable weather plays a huge part in how the farmers deal with the land and livestock from season to season.

My first ever batch of apple chutney

The poo heaps…and we’re not finished yet!

The riverbank at the end of Bramble Avenue

As I look back at the summer and mourn the loss of the summer sun, the cold winter lays ahead of me so am I ready to change? Can I bring light into a dark situation? Have I the power to change like the seasons?

While waiting for news from Planning and CADW, we’ve done our best to put other plans into action, rather than dwell on a situation we have no control over. The good news is, Planning and CADW have now agreed to issue us with the necessary paperwork to go ahead with our roof…there are conditions but nothing we can’t work around so, we’ve put a call in to the thatcher and we will know tonight when our thatching will commence.

The even better news is, I may have found a society who may give us a small grant towards getting a roof on the byre before the winter so I’ve emailed for an application form. This help will be greatly appreciated as working on the byre was not in the budget for this year…or next but, the storms in February have necessitated a speedy response or we’ll lose the byre completely.

We lost the light from our hillside location at 7.29pm last night and the chill and damp that descended was almost tangible but we’re proficient in producing heat quickly from our two wood burners and the pile of wood in the drying barn is huge, both for this year and next, so we will be warm this winter….especially with a roof!

Since Mike came back from Essex, he is getting more and more work by raising his profile and doing a great job so where one floor was quoted for, they want him back to do another. We’ve both been promoting and I’ve been invited to take part in ‘Making Together’ on 4th October in Lampeter, to talk about my books, sell some and offer the opportunity of workshops to new writers. I’m also dancing with Tribal Unity in Lampeter on 11th October at the ATS® Belly Dance World Wide Flash Mob where dancers from across the world dance to the same music at the same time, Friday 17th October at the Lampeter World of Dance event and teaching a beginners workshop the following day.

Have I the power? I think I have.