Wild Rose Path
For the woman whose life has stopped fitting, and who wants to find out where she actually stands. For the woman who suspects the way back to herself might be through something older and slower and closer to the earth than anything she's tried so far. Each week I write about life transitions, plant wisdom, and seasonal rhythm... real letters, not polished advice. When you join, you'll get The Stile, five questions that show you which landscape you're actually standing in right now, plus the plant ally that grows there and a small five-minute practice to do.
The Old Life Is Over and the New One Hasn't Started Yet
Hey Reader, Maybe you're at that place right now. Something's ended - a relationship, a job, a part of who you believed yourself to be, and it's gone, but the new hasn't started yet. The in-between. Almost between worlds. You know you don't need a five-step reinvention plan. Just a little room to sit with what's ended, and feel ready enough to start moving again. I've spent this year writing and talking about exactly this, on Substack and YouTube. Crossing the Threshold is the thing...
October Energy Forecast: The thing you keep putting off
Hey Reader, I recorded this month's Energy Forecast in the polytunnel (well, until the camera overheated...), tomatoes and cucumbers finally out, the space winding down for winter. Felt fitting, actually, given what October's bringing up. Same tension I've mentioned before, the pull to get out and do things, against the pull to go inward as the light shortens. This month it's less about picking a side and more about being discerning with where your attention actually goes. Maybe there's...
Who am I now that I'm not half of something?
Hey Reader, If you've been with someone for years, decades even, and then suddenly you're not, there's a specific kind of unravelling that comes with it. Not just the practical mess, the finances, the living arrangements, whatever needs untangling. Underneath that there's a much bigger question sitting quietly. Who am I, now that I'm not 'half of something'? In the landscape work I use, this is the Ghyll. A steep drop, no clear path down or back up either. You're just stood at the edge of it....
A plant that doesn't apologise
Hey Reader, I went out to check on one of my many mint plants this week and found it had gone properly tall, flowered, and sent runners out the bottom of the pot in every direction. Hadn't been paying attention, so a few had already made it into the actual ground and a little mint plant had popped up on its own, completely separate from the container. I cut the runners back...Had to. And found myself apologising to the plant while I did it. We expect ourselves to stay in the shape we were...
Trusting the unfurling
Hey Reader, Today I'm dancing that balance between having the time and headspace to get going with things... alongside the oft-begrudging acceptance that I have to trust the process (which is rarely on my timeline). Yes, more lessons from the fells. Last week I decided to go up the other side of Crook, because the maps tell me there's a way to get up there and get onto Sickers Fell, which I've been wanting to get onto for a while. So I go onto the very wild and bracken-covered fell wall path...
September Energy Forecast: The Hedge Is Coming Into Berry
Hey Reader, Welcome to this month's Energy Update. A little later than planned thanks to the school holidays, but we've made it here to the beginning of September. I'd love to know, in the comments or by reply to this email, how you're feeling moving into September. There were some really big moves in the sky over July in particular, and August too. We've had a few eclipses. How are you feeling after that? For me, it feels like things have shifted. Not in a really obvious outward way, but...
It has a name now (sort of)
Hey Reader, I've not been able to write much on here the last couple of weeks, school holidays, and at this point of the year I'm always pretty much running on empty. Full of ideas I want to get on with, but not much time or space to myself to actually do anything about them. There've been refuelling moments though. Walked up to the summit of both Crook and Arant Haw. Got properly lost in thought down by the river at one point and just... stayed there a while. And in between all that I've...
The tunnel was shorter than I thought
Hey Reader, We went on a narrowboat holiday. The idea was to slow down. What actually happened was three kids in a very small moving space and me having never been on one before, wondering why I'd agreed to this! Home, it turns out, is the slow part of my life right now. Not a holiday to escape it. One of the days we went through the Preston Brook tunnel. Long one, about fifteen minutes end to end in the dark. I braced for it the way you do. All that not being able to see, engine noise off...
What if you’re not actually stuck?
Hey Reader, It’s the summer holidays here, and time to do ANYTHING alone is minimal. Three children with very specific needs, plus my own neurodivergent brain means that whole ‘schedule the hell outta every day’ does not fly. It is rare to get all three of them to agree to go somewhere, and quite frankly I’m not up for wasting an insane amount of money on the off-chance that we can have a ‘typical day out’. Besides, hanging out by the riverside is much better than some overcrowded Soft Play...
August Energy Forecast: Standing in Your Own Light
Hey Reader, It's already starting to feel very different to the beginning of this month here, not only with the dismantling of 'normal routines', but that shift in the air and hints of Autumn seem to come ever-sooner each year. I realise that's not the case in many other parts of the world where heatwaves are still causing chaos, but the land here really feels like the season is shifting. Which is exactly what I've been sitting with in this month's energy forecast. In this week's video I'm...
For the woman whose life has stopped fitting, and who wants to find out where she actually stands. For the woman who suspects the way back to herself might be through something older and slower and closer to the earth than anything she's tried so far. Each week I write about life transitions, plant wisdom, and seasonal rhythm... real letters, not polished advice. When you join, you'll get The Stile, five questions that show you which landscape you're actually standing in right now, plus the plant ally that grows there and a small five-minute practice to do.