May Day Itinerary

Sunrise: 5.40 am

Sunset: 8.30 pm

Sunrise. Beat the bounds of Parson's Wood and then return to Johnny's house for a hearty breakfast.

Mid-morning. Gather ivy for the maypole, pausing in the fields to read 'Spring' from Vita Sackville-West's The Land; Philip Larkin's 'The Whitsun Weddings' (because we've come over all epithalamic after the Royal Wedding) and to begin reading Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm. Back to Johnny's again for lunch and strawberry upside-down cake.

Afternoon. Prepare rags and ribbons for the maypole and continue reading Cold Comfort Farm. Return to the woods to turn the summer solstice dancing tree into a maypole.

Sunset. An early supper of roast lamb, asparagus, purple sprouting and new potatoes, followed by a final visit to the woods.

Cross-quarters 2011

While we completed our year of Quarters with the autumn equinox in September 2010, we have decided to continue with the Four Quarters collaborative for another year - this time spending each of the cross-quarters in the same dozen acres of the Sussex Weald.

The first cross-quarter day of 2011 will be February 2 - Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, Imbolc or St Brigid's day - take your pick. Marking the halfway point between the winter solstice and vernal equinox, this is a feast day associated with divination, fire and purification, marking the beginning of a month of ravaging wolves and cakes! It is the day snakes wake up, foxes mate, and ewes give birth and begin lactating.

We will also be in the woods on May Day (Beltane), Lammas, and Samhain (Halloween or All Soul's Day) and will be reporting back here in due course.