Lia Leendertzová

A Year in Nature is a captivating journey across the countryside through the seasons. A delightful voyage through the seasons, each page sparkles with wonder and gentle surprises. From spring's first blossoms dancing in the breeze to winter's quiet hush beneath a blanket of snow, A Year in Nature celebrates the magic woven into each month, where birds chatter like storytellers, leaves whirl in secret ballets, and raindrops compose lullabies on mossy stones. With this beautiful collection, you are invited to wander meadow paths, pause beneath starlit skies, bring nature into your home and marvel at the tiny miracles often overlooked. It's a joyful reminder that nature's calendar is always full of enchantment. This is a book to treasure all year, every year, and the perfect companion to A Year in Story and Song and A Year of Feasting and Festivities. Highlights include:- January: In the ancient meadow, the hedgerow in January and inside a beehive in January- February: A nature table for February, toad migration and winter rainbows- March: The vernal/spring equinox, garden wildlife in March and bird of the month- April: The pond in April, brimstone butterflies and flower on the month- May: Garden and weather folklore, 'The feast of Beltane' and May dew- June: Nature weaving, the hedgerow in June and Midsummer- July: Flower of the month, summer hailstorm and inside the beehive in July- August: Flower and leaf mandalas, dragonfly migration and the grasshopper chorus- September: Corn dollies, autumn equinox and daddy-longlegs- October: Make Halloween nature wands, preparing for hibernation and the moon illusion- November: Making a space for November, preserving leaves and mellow mists- December: Mark the winter solstice, types of frost and "cherry tree carol'

A Year in Story and Song is a captivating collection of stories and songs that celebrates the seasons. We humans love stories. We love to hear them and to tell them, around fires and by bedsides, and we love to use them to make sense of the world around us. The seasons, in all their ever-changing variety, give us many opportunities for storytelling: the full moons and their names, Epiphany in January, St Patrick's Day in March, May Day, Midsummer, Halloween and more. They feature mischievous boggarts and fairies, saints and sailors, leprechauns and dragons, pilgrimages and charms, milk maids and rose queens, Robin Hood and the green man. The songs range from shanties and love songs, to bawdy ballads and wassails, to carols and rounds, and have been sung for hundreds of years, often at particular moments in the calendar. This is a book to treasure all year, every year.