With so much change taking place lately I have scarcely had the time to write. Late summer has arrived here at the homestead with the first signs that the year is waning. It has been a month since the summer solstice and the position of the setting sun has shifted back over to beyond the distant bluff. I have never been so aware of this occurrence before. The official harvest season begins soon even though we have all been enjoying many delicious treats from our gardens already as it is late July. The stars of the Autumn harvest for us this year are gradually coming into flower. Behold, the humble but enchanting pumpkin flowers! They are sensational seen with bright orange calendula and nasturtium flowers dotted all around the patch. Tall sunflowers that are in bud stand like guards behind the scene with sweet corn preparing to fruit (or veg!). Our pyramidal cauliflower rows look leafy and strong next to the broad beans that have plenty more to give well into August. The cultivated edibles are largely looking after themselves with just the occasional light thinning around them when they look a little drowned by the wilds. I’m gently controlling the overgrowth in there and I feel I have reached a happy balance. I see that the resident insect life is pleased with very little disturbance from me or the children. The green and black flies never managed to form any damaging strongholds but I do see that they are crazy about the wild yarrow. That is fine with me because I harvest the young regrowth of yarrow for eating and leave the long flowering tips for the insects anyway. Because there is so much of it growing here and there, lining the path to the chicken house, growing amongst flowering apple mint, there is enough to make everyone happy. Is it possible to have a mutually satisfying relationship with aphids? That could be a revelation. Now, the yarrow has been growing continuously over the summer, but the white dead nettle died back a few weeks ago. I am learning that quite a few wild plants have a second growing season. The white dead nettle was the one I may have mentioned before that was harbouring lots of exciting bug life early in the season. The children particularly loved watching the stinkbug activity but also enjoyed the huge variety of bees that were visiting it. It is returning and with flowers too. We will be on the look out for creatures that may appear on them in the coming days. Our wild salads have contained young leaves from plantain, dandelions, mustard, nasturtiums, cress and yarrow this week. Only the nasturtiums have been grown by me, no other input was required. That is simply wonderful! There will be more radishes soon and I need to peek at the carrots tomorrow to see if there are a couple of orange tops showing. It is a time of abundance and with that comes mindfulness of preserving some of the bounty for later in the year. So far, I have been drying chamomile, calendula, lavender and purple dead nettle for later use but have not really had an excess of vegetables or fruit yet. There is still plenty of time to bottle some sunshine as I see we have lovely apples, pears, blackberries and hedgerow berries to collect later. The evenings and the air in general is cool but there is blazing warm sun when it does come out. A feeling of change has swept over this land and it is welcomed with quiet reverence and anticipation for the new things that will come. Sadly, our hen numbers have dwindled down by another loss but we are not phased. I found her where she fell from her roost and hoped she went in her sleep during the night. I kept her above ground until the children woke that morning and let them smooth her grey feathers and thank her before placing her in the earth. They were happy that I allowed them to help me and picked flowers to place on her. She is in a lovely spot now where they know she is near and have not been sad at all. With only four hens left, we will soon want to get a few more. The wheel of the year is turning and our pumpkins are growing.