It’s that time of the month when we have a full moon. This one is called the Wolf Moon for some reason that I will delve into in a second. I don’t think that we have wolves here in the UK. They do have them in Mongolia though. I saw a picture on a Mongolian blog and I commented on how nice the person’s dogs looked and I was very quickly corrected because they were in-fact wolves. What the person was doing taking photos amongst a pack of wolves will forever remain a mystery to me.

After consulting with the old farmers in my village, the Wolf Moon is called such because wolves howl to mark their territory and also to hunt. Because everything is so frozen, still, and quiet at this time of the year, the howls can be heard for miles and miles.

Thank me later when you win the pub quiz.

Astrology wise….

As the first moon of the new year, the Wolf Moon is generally seen as a positive symbol of hope and renewal despite arriving in the dead of winter. It represents the light that persists even in the bitter cold darkness.

Spiritually, the full Wolf Moon is a call for deep self-reflection and the unseen connection to our own “packs.” Humans, like wolves, are social creatures (even if some of us are introverts who enjoy solitude). We exist within communities and therefore must sometimes put social responsibility above personal desires, agendas, and individual freedoms.

The closest we are going to get to a howling wolf is a screeching squirrel. Have you ever heard the noise that a squirrel makes. Bizarre that such a little beast can make so much noise.

We had yet another brace of storms battering us this week. Storm Isha rolled in on Sunday and caused major disruption, followed by Storm Jocelyn.

Our newly widened path coped fantastically and without problem.

Today we cracked on with our southward quest of getting rid of self-seeded tree saplings and creating “windows” in the sides.

The reason we are getting rid of the tree saplings is because they are way too dense and will be robbing the older and more established trees of nutrients and space to grow.

The windows are to get away from the long green tunnel feel that the path has in the summer when everything has greened up, and so that people can see out and feel part of their wider surroundings, as well as letting sunlight in.

We also hatched a grand plan to mark the trees that are blocking the sun from hitting the scallop clearings in the summer, and then thin the branches at the end of the year. Genius!

So you see, there is some sort of method to our madness.

Our YouTube of the bit we worked on today.

A little further down the trail our recycled (multiple times) bench nearly took one for the team, again.

Just look how close that was!! If it’s not the angry mob of naughty squirrels, it’s Mother Nature herself trying to bounce stuff off it. Thank you to whoever was mercifully looking down on the bench and saved it.

In other news, George, who is doing his Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award has started on a wildflower clearing for a bench that Andrew kindly made for us.

The hedge needs cutting back and the view widening, but you get the gist of how this is going to look. I think George is very much on the right track.

Next week we carry on with the plan, but with only five more workdays before the bird-nesting season starts, I am wondering how far we will get. But at the end of the day, what doesn’t get done this side of the nesting season, will get done in September onwards, and with our aim to keep the path wide over the spring and summer, we will have bucket-loads, in fact, barrel-loads more time.

We have a rather nice surprise next week. If you think about what most of our conversations revolve around, as we slurp coffee from our all-terrain mugs, and stuff our faces with biscuits and cookies, you might be able to guess. If not, you will have to wait until then.

Until next time!