July feels abundant. The hedgerows are heavy with leaves and berries. Gardens overflow with flowers and life. Bees move from flower to flower with quiet purpose and the warmth of the sun lingers long into the evening. This is a month of fullness. Not quite yet harvest time, but the promise of it. The earth wears her riches openly now, displaying the results of months of growth and tending. Everything seems alive with possibility.
July sits between the brightness of the Summer Solstice and the first harvest festival of Lammas. It is a time to ready oneself for the harvest. To rest, to replenish and to gather resources in readiness for the main harvests and celebrations of late summer and early Autumn. Fields are being ripened beneath the sun, and communities are preparing for the work of gathering and preserving what the year had provided. July reminds us that abundance is not something we create alone. It is the result of countless unseen relationships between earth, rain, sunlight, insects, plants, and people.
July teaches us that there is wisdom in appreciation and preparation. Not every season asks us to strive. Sometimes the invitation is simply to notice the warmth of the sun, the hum of bees, the beauty of a world in bloom and think about what is needed for what is about to come.
May this month bring you contentment, creativity, and moments of quiet wonder.
July feels abundant. The hedgerows are heavy with leaves and berries. Gardens overflow with flowers and life. Bees move from flower to flower with quiet purpose and the warmth of the sun lingers long into the evening. This is a month of fullness. Not quite yet harvest time, but the promise of it. The earth wears her riches openly now, displaying the results of months of growth and tending. Everything seems alive with possibility.
July sits between the brightness of the Summer Solstice and the first harvest festival of Lammas. It is a time to ready oneself for the harvest. To rest, to replenish and to gather resources in readiness for the main harvests and celebrations of late summer and early Autumn. Fields are being ripened beneath the sun, and communities are preparing for the work of gathering and preserving what the year had provided. July reminds us that abundance is not something we create alone. It is the result of countless unseen relationships between earth, rain, sunlight, insects, plants, and people.
July teaches us that there is wisdom in appreciation and preparation. Not every season asks us to strive. Sometimes the invitation is simply to notice the warmth of the sun, the hum of bees, the beauty of a world in bloom and think about what is needed for what is about to come.
May this month bring you contentment, creativity, and moments of quiet wonder.
In the Studio
July encourages me to slow down and notice and yet at the same time it is a busy time in the studio as work is drying out faster and the turnaround is speedier. I find inspiration in the colours of the season: deep greens, dusty pinks, golden grasses and bright wildflowers. My hands are drawn towards pieces that celebrate gathering and sharing. There is something deeply satisfying about making objects that invite people to pause and appreciate the beauty around them. Bowls, jugs and platters but also sculptures that celebrate the garden spaces that we inhabit during the summer months.
Currently I’m busy making and finishing working in preparation for my September open studio event. I am anxious and excited at the same time. Will I have enough work? Will people like my work? Will I sell my work? Will the weather be ok? Will people come? The constant thoughts are distracting but I guess normal. I try hard just to focus on the making and finishing of work and not get caught up in the anxiety of it all, but when it gets too much the garden is a haven to meditate, calm down and refocus myself.
A Small July Ritual
Take a walk in nature and gather three natural treasures—a feather, a fallen leaf, a pebble, or a flower.
Place them together somewhere visible and spend a moment reflecting on what is flourishing in your life right now. Gratitude helps us recognise abundance when it is already present.