THE NEW YEAR CAME SILENTLY

I find it hard to get excited about the New Year and the loud expressions - fireworks, parties etc - which signal this event.  I also find it hard to celebrate this at one moment.  For me the New Year came in  more gradually.

It started on December 21st, at the Winter Solstice which this year was also the full moon.  On that night I went to our stone circle and sat there for a while in the moonlight and the next day painted this picture.

In the days following we worked very hard in the garden as the rains almost stopped and we had to make good all the flood damage of the monsoon.  This meant putting a lot of compost on the beds to compensate for all the nutrients that had leached out with the flood water.  After that we planted seedlings  - especially tomatoes, lettuce and roccolla - which are our main cool season plants.

Today I looked at our 28 raised beds, most of which are now fully planted and growing. Slowly, silently, the year had turned.  What I was looking at were the new plants for the new season that starts the new year.  The transition from one year to the next was complete and the new year had arrived.