Welcome to the Fern podcast as the season turns.

Released on the first of the month, each episode will follow 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 a collaboration between myself and fern, makers of small batch organic perfume, who blend,

barrel age and bottle, four fragrances a year, released at the equinoxes and solstices. I love wearing fern, in my quest to live in tune with the seasons,

applying the season's perfume as a lovely little ritual

that reminds me to use all of my senses.

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.

On July the 1st, sunrise is at 4.23 a.m. in In July 1st, sunrise is at 4.23am in Inveness and at 5.11 a.m. in Padstow.

The difference between the sunrise times of June and those of July are subtle, but the change is happening.

All year the sunrise has crept earlier and earlier,

and now it is five minutes later in Inverness and two minutes later in Padstow.

Subtle, perhaps, but a major shift has occurred. Perhaps we needn't dwell on that too much for now. In the past,

this would have been a time in the year to be up at dawn, no matter how early it fell,

because one of the major agricultural jobs of the year, haymaking, fell in July. Haymaking was once a job that involved the whole community, plus

travellers who would have made it a part of their annual round of farm visits. The purpose of

haymaking is to capture the goodness that has been nurtured all summer in meadow growth, and get it

dried enough that it will keep in good condition in its many

months of storage, ready for the times when fresh green grass is in short supply. July was the

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