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 it's February.

February is an ascetic little month.

Cold, short, and dark, many of its rituals, emulch, candlemass, often lent, though not this year,

revolve around absence, purging and fasting.

Its birthstone, amethyst, symbolises piety and humility. Even the name February comes from Februm, Latin for purification, the root, februer meaning, I purify by sacrifice.

Fun old February. In all of this, it can feel like a month of self-denial and of suspension of

activity, a time to tuck up indoors and wait for warmer days, a pause for contemplation

before the hustle and renewal of the next few months. But look, and you will see sure signs that

nothing stands still, even or perhaps especially

in February.

In the far north of the country the day lengthens by a full two hours by the end of the

month, and everywhere there are little signs of life returning, unable to resist the turning

of the year, even when breath is cloudy and ground

...