August Notebook - The Golden Issue

Sunflowers, supermoons and a hint of autumn magic in the air...

Hello!

As I talked about in my Lammas post last week, everything feels golden at this time of year. We’re right in the midst of summer holidays, the days are still long and (when it stops raining) there’s plenty of gentle warmth left in the sun. It’s definitely summer. But also… there’s just the smallest whisper of change in the air.

Photo by Yan Liu on Unsplash

When you start to look, there are lots of early signs of Autumn sneaking in. In fact they’ve been hiding in plain sight for quite a while. Blackberries creeping through the hedgerows, hazelnuts growing quietly on trees and conkers hiding under the horse chestnut canopy. If you’re an autumn-lover like me, these signs will fill your heart with woodsmoke-scented joy, but if you’re determined to hold on to the summer holidays instead, you might feel a bit differently.

Happily August is a month that can comfortably hold both Summer and Autumn within it, with plenty of warmth for those determined to make the most of the holiday month, and just a hint of early-autumn magic in the air for the rest of us.

So for this August monthly notebook I’ve written about some of the best things about August, put together some ideas on how to celebrate this month at home and added in a sprinkling of August folklore for good measure.

Photo by Irina Iriser on Unsplash

1. Enjoy the incredible colours

The colours in the garden and the wider landscape start to change at this time of year, with the bright colours of summer making way for the most beautiful golds and purples in fields, hedgerows and flower beds. Yellow sunflowers are at their best at this month, fields and grasses are golden, and all the rich purple and blue flowers, like buddlea, cornflowers, salvias, dahlias and heather are having their moment. Whether you want to collect them, press then, paint them, or just sit and lazily appreciate them, there’s plenty of artistic inspiration around at this time of year.

2. Celebrate the first harvest festival

Lughnasadh, or Lammas - the first of three harvest festivals in the ancient pagan calendar - is celebrated on the 1st August. It marks the very beginning of harvest season and is a time for celebrating the grain harvest, baking fresh bread, picking hedgerow berries and feasting. It’s one of my favourite seasonal festivals and I’ve written about the history of it and how to celebrate it here.

Photo by Lucinda Hershberger on Unsplash

3. Embrace jam season

Technically jam season begins in June with the first of the fresh strawberries, but making jam in midsummer seems wrong somehow - in my mind it’s a cosy autumnal activity. But with Autumn on the horizon (there, I said it again), and the garden and hedgerows filling up rapidly with delicious things to eat, August really is the time to get cracking if you want to preserve them in sweet, sugary jam form. There’s no better place to get advice on Jam making than the WI, so here are their pearls of wisdom on the topic.

4. Harvest lavender

Back to purple-coloured flowers. Mid-to-late summer is the best time to cut lavender for storing and using overwinter. So if you haven’t cut yours yet, now is the last opportunity to do so this year. You could also visit a lavender farm for a very August-y and colourful day out - here are a list of lavender farms in the UK that are open to visit this month.

5. Update your seasonal shelf

If you like to bring in a few seasonal things to make a display indoors each month, then this month it’s all about treasures from the cornfield. In my post on Lughnasadh / Lammas traditions I’ve written more about ideas for indoor displays at this time of year, from sunflowers and corn decorations to sunshine-coloured crystals - take a look here.

6. Moonbathe

There are two full moons this month, and both are super moons. The first one is on the 1st (today!) and there’s a second one right at the end of the month on the 30th. The second full moon in a month is always known as a blue moon, so if we want to be fancy we could call that one a super blue moon, which sounds pretty magical. Also means there’s double the opportunity for moon-gazing / moon-bathing this month.

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August Folklore

Finally, here are a couple of pieces of August folklore for you to squirrel away this month, ready to impress, surprise or baffle someone at the appropriate moment.

1. “If St. Bartholomew's Day be fair and clear, Then a prosperous autumn comes this year.”

   Keep a close watch on the weather on August 24th (St. Bartholomew’s Day) as this day is said to set the tone for the rest of the Autumn. If we have a sunny day then we’ll have a good autumn, according to this piece of weatherlore.

2. If you forage for blackberries this month you should leave the first ones on the bush for the fairie folk to eat. Folklore dictates you should only take yours once these early berries have been eaten. Failure to do so could result in you being swept away by the fairy folk (or in eating some very sharp, early blackberries).

p.s. Love blackberries? My next newsletter is a blackberry season special, so make sure you’re subscribed if you want to get recipe ideas, foraging tips and more hedgerow folklore delivered straight to your inbox.

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Ok, that’s all from me! If you like the idea of celebrating all things golden this August, please do share your ideas below and let me know what you’ll be doing this month.

And finally, if you like this post I’d be thrilled if you would tap the heart below to leave a like so I’m not just watching the tumbleweed over here. Thank you!

Have a lovely August,

Vicky xx