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 Lander'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.

Names for September.

September was the Roman name for this month, which means seventh month, dating from the time when March was the start

of the year. The English names for the months follow this pattern for the rest of the year,

October being the eighth month, November the 9th, and December the 10th. But most of the languages

of the British Isles take a more agricultural approach to September.

Mien-Four-Ve in Irish Gaelic means mid and harvest, and is echoed in the Manx, Moin-Fuyer, while the Welsh Medi means harvest or reaping.

As often, the Cornish name for the month, Gwyngala, arises from

Breton rather than any of the languages of the British Isles. In Breton, this month is Gwen Golo,

which may come from Gwen, meaning white, and Kolo meaning straw, a reference to crops ripening and stems blanching in the sun.

The Scots Gallic saltame is from a word that means pleasant, pleasing, or fat. There are good

times and feasting to be had as the harvest comes in. In Old English, this is Hallaleg Monath, Holy Month, most likely another

harvest reference. September is such an abundant month that in the Romani language, the name

for the month, Ruggieri Mascaro, translates as month of the gathering or of the harvests.

This would have meant two things to the Romani.

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