Welcome to the Fern podcast, as the season turns.

Released on the first of the month, each episode will be following the changing landscape of the seasons,

from the moon and the stars to the tides and the trees.

I'm Leah Lainters, author of The Almanac, a seasonal guide,

and this podcast is created by Fern,

makers of small batch organic perfume,

who blend, barrel age and bottle four fragrances a year,

released at the equinoxes and solstices.

We hope that this brief guide to the month ahead will awaken you to the rhythms of the year

and help you to settle deeper into the seasons.

April is here.

The Romans named April Aprilis, possibly from the verb Apparea, to open.

And although no one quite knows why, it fits in well with the atmosphere of the month.

Buds bursting and windows being flung wide as warmth arrives at least briefly between showers.

We are past the spring equinox now and life is tripping over itself to get going and get on.

The soft haze of lime-green tips over dark winter branches that appeared last month is filling out daily,

and colourful garden flowers start to join the white blossom of blackthorn, dams and pear,

filling the air with scent, luring in emerging bees in a frenzy of pollination.

The Anglo-Saxons called it Easter Monarth,

the month of the goddess Eustra,

of whom little is known but much imagined,

as there seems an irresistible etymological link between Eistra and Easter.

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