Welcome to the Fern podcast as the season turns.

Released on the first of each month, the episodes follow the changing landscape of the seasons,

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

I'm Leah Lane Dirt's author of The Almanac, A Seasonal Guide,

and this podcast is a collaboration between myself and Fern,

makers of small batch organic perfume.

I love wearing Fern, in my quest to live in tune with the seasons.

Applying the season's perfume is a lovely little ritual that reminds me to use all 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.

Apples turned in glossy toffee, a bonfire crackling against a starry sky,

flames leaping to the trees, shouts and gasps as chrysanthemum fireworts light everything starkly and momentarily in pink and white.

And in the hours that follow, the bonfires slow dying down to glowing embers,

cups of still-warm spiced cider keeping the stragglers warm.

The next morning, huge webs sparkle, the spiders having reclaimed the land overnight.

A spent rocket languishes on the lawn, and the misty morning air is still scented by the bonfire embers.

Under hedges and among the trees, mushrooms erupt in soft whites, grays and browns.

Sulfur tuft, Liberty Cap, shaggy ink cap, fairy ring mushroom.

The year might be winding down for most of nature, but this is the height of it for the mushrooms.

All year their networks of mycelium have worked their way through the earth,

and now is the moment to lift their heads, spread their gills,

and release their delicate spores into the damp air.

The microscopic potential life forms alight on the wind,

...