One of the things I most look forward to on the first day of each month is the release of the new episode of the As the Season Turns podcast. Created by Ffern in collaboration with Lia Leendertz, noted nature writer and author of the The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2025 (and previously as well to 2024, 2023, 2022…), this absolute treasure of a podcast encompasses information about the natural world and its seasonal cycles, Moon phases and other seasonal astronomical phenomena, folklore appropriate to the time of year, music, poetry, and even recipes and other niceties of life that help to ground – or as a friend of mine is fond of saying, “earth,” – and connect listeners to things that are much more healthy and life-affirming than the violent, destructive chaos and churn caused by certain power-mad and mentally-damaged humans presently plaguing the planet and its wide variety of inhabitants.
Honestly, after the conclusion of Melissa Harrison’s remarkable The Stubborn Light of Things podcast that saw so many – including myself – through the CoVid-19 pandemic lock-downs, fear, and uncertainty, I thought I’d never be so fortunate as to hear another such series of broadcasts that was so gently lovely, restorative, and powerful in its regular reminders that the natural world has a wealth of healing power that far exceeds the damage that humans are capable of causing one another and all the rest of life on Earth; then I discovered As the Season Turns.
As I mentioned, Ms. Leendertz is the author of the brilliant annual publication titled The Almanac. I only discovered this delightfully helpful and charming little book this year with the 2025 edition and now take it with me in my shoulder bag as one of my “every day carry” books. Indeed, reference back to this remarkable little book is often made in the As the Season Turns podcast episodes, further increasing the power and effectiveness of both. And as I’ve recently been made aware that The Almanac; A Seasonal Guide to 2026 is soon to make its debut, you’ll be reading more about that book here in the forthcoming weeks.
Given that there are still many months left in 2025, as many episodes of the As the Season Turns podcast expected still to come this year, and as copies of The Almanac; A Seasonal Guide to 2025 are still – as of this writing – available, at least reportedly at Blackwell’s Aberdeen University store (this is a book that it’s best to buy as soon as it’s released for sale as it sells-out quickly each year), securing a copy for yourself is highly recommended – as is subscribing to the As the Season Turns podcast, of course.
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