Autumn activities are in full swing and I have been a busy little squirrel lately. From rosehip and crabapple jelly to freezing a bounty of chestnuts, I’m on it. To celebrate our first year on the Homestead in style, we started a bonfire in the top meadow and piled it high. It was one of those oddly warm, soul stirring, pinky-blue early evenings when you could stand there, long staff in hand, tending the fire until the end of time. It had been burning for a couple of hours when I found myself drawn to its side after putting the chickens to bed. The irresistible glow and the opportunity to be there all alone for however long I could get away with, beckoned me. The instinct within us as humans to harness and commune with this cardinal element is powerful. It has warmed us, fed us and protected us for around two million years. Fire is a great destroyer as well and gives us a sense of guardianship over a wild and threatening force when it is under our control. When tamed, as this one was, its slow hypnotic burn calmed and also invigorated me. This moment was just what I’d needed for fire often has this effect on me indoors or out. A renewal of the self and a fitting way to mark the first year on this magical hill. It had been raining throughout the short day, but it wasn’t a hindrance to this fire’s wonderfully steady burn. A couple of large fruit wood logs remained atop a great pile of ash. I wanted to keep a satisfying flame going, so I put a few twigs and dry Old Man’s Beard vines on for good measure. Every fire seems to take on its own character, like a little shape-shifting entity that we can please or anger. The wind would gather and swirl sparks up into the half-light and cause the logs to glow almost inside out. I then looked up and noticed the first stars starting to appear. Brown, red and golden leaves I had watched emerge in Spring and give us shade all Summer were now flying delicately through the air around me. I felt the wheel turning towards the great sleep for the Copper Beech, Walnut and Field Maple nearest me. I welcome this quiet Hygge season and love all of its associations. There is so much beauty in the preparation nature undergoes beyond the harvest as we move ever closer to Winter. I am greatly looking forward to another Autumn outdoor fire for Bonfire Night in just a few hours time! We won’t have fireworks as I’m sure plenty of distant neighbours will have them, but who needs the short-lived thrill of the bang when we have FIRE.