Seasonal Record
the poetry, the science & the moment
Before me is an A3 page which is part of a giant notebook I like to use for scattering thoughts and then collecting them together to try and make a cohesive something. It is spiral bound and the pages at the top and bottom are starting to wear, the pages tear a little. There are smudges and naturally a bit of dirt. At the bottom corner is a quote from Plant magazine:
“Wild possibilities force their way through the cracks like dandelions"
My scribbles on this page are the start of something, what I am not sure, but it is something I want to share with you. The page is broken into three columns, each column has a row of dates, written in hand with the inky black pens I like to use. The dates are 5 days apart, 72 in total across the year. What I have written is inspired by Kō, the Japanese micro seasons, where instead of breaking the year into 4 main season, Winter, Spring, Autumn and Summer, each Kō represents a mini season, a seasonal moment in the year that last 5 days. To me these poetic little sentences are a perfect way to record the unfolding seasons.
I have for a long time wanted to record the garden and how it changes. I take my photos and I write my words but I wanted to have a record which I could revisit and compare. Calendars for me provide dates to do various seasonal tasks, put your annuals out here, dahlias out there but I am looking for something more subtle, more personal. I want my method of recording to reflect the location and the changing climate where I live. I wonder if we record our garden differently, what shape this would take? What does it look like if we make it more personal, specific to you and your garden? All these thoughts lead me to realise I wanted to create poetic mirco seasons of my own.
As I am thinking about the idea of Kō I realised that our climate and our seasons are not static and not the same every year. This lead me to think how the idea of phenology, the recording of cycles of the natural seasons could align with the concept of Kō. Phenology are records of the movements of nature. The rainfalls, the snowfalls, the winds and the temperature as well as key moments in the season. Collected they are compared over the years to track the changes in nature around us.
Added to this collection of thoughts, is the idea of a moment. A stillness of observation, where you put down what you are doing, the book, the phone and look for a minute or two at what is around you and acknowledge it. I felt that taking a moment every five days to just think about what was going on around me would be a wonderful way to connect to the seasons. I want to comment on my garden with a more indepth response than “it feels like it rained more than this time last year”
So I have married the idea of all three things. The poetry, the science and the moment as a way of recording what happens in my garden and seeing how it changes over a year. In future years I hope to use what I have started as a base to then compare, to see if things are the same or different year to year. My A3 page of white paper is the framework for this little exploration.
Some of my entries are as follows:
27th of Feb - Eos eats the first fallen pear
4th March - the Sedum starts to flower
13th March - the purple Autumn crocus flowers
18th March - Moths still wish to bath in the lamp light
23rd March - Bishops flower are starting to turn
All I have recorded are unique to my life and my garden and I have found having the page open and lying about the house is a good way to remember to do this. When I see it, I take a minute to look around me to see what has changed and then note it down. Some entries I have scribbled out, replacing it with something that better reflects my seasonal moment. I am kinda feeling way to see what I want to record. I have limited my recordings to the garden space and I only write a short sentence. For me the exercise is to be light, nothing too hard.
I will add to my list as the year progresses and then come next year find a way (it is yet to clarify itself) to see if what I recorded happens at the same time next year. I thought what I am doing is something small and lovely which has prompted me to share it with you. Below you can find a list of dates to use as a guide*, where you can join along if you like. It is the crossing of seasons with Matariki and the shortest day so for me the new garden year is beginning, a perfect time to start recording what is around you. It may be that a page is where you write, or perhaps it is a voice note on your phone, and entry in the diary. Take this idea, these dates and fly. I hope it adds something to you day and a connection to the land around you.
*Sorry it is a PDF but it was the only format that would allow be to share the document via the newsletter format.
