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 in the trees. I'm Leah Landers, 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.

Names for October. Apart from the familiar Roman name of October, the eighth month,

in Scots, Ulster Scots, Modern English and Gerrier.

The naming of this month in the languages of Britain and Ireland gives glimpses into past

autumnal concerns. Two are clear cut. Dere Fover in Irish Gaelic and Jerafoyer in Manx, both contain words meaning end and harvest.

It is the final chance to gather in crops.

But the Welsh Hedrev, which is the Welsh word for both autumn and October,

is thought to be derived from hev, meaning stag, and breath, meaning lowing, or bleating.

And the Cornish hedra appears to come from the same route.

The Scots-Gallic Davir similarly points to the importance of deer in this month, and comes from

Dav, meaning rut.

It is rutting time, when the stag's bellows are heard at dawn and dusk, and the start of hunting season.

October's Old English name is Winter Fillet, meaning winter full moon.

This refers to the hunter's moon, which falls in this month. For the Anglo-Saxons,

this moon was the beginning of winter, but by today's reckoning we have a little more autumn to go

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