March feels like an awakening, still stretching, still yawning – but no longer asleep. The air smells different. The soil softens. It is slowly getting warmer during the day. Light spills into rooms that were dark all winter. This is the month of in-betweens, where there is rain and sun, cold mornings and warm afternoons, buds unsure whether it is safe to open. The earth is really starting to remember itself. Insects are starting to emerge, and the birds are really getting underway with procreation. Slumbering creatures are emerging from hibernation. Mornings are misty and there is often ground frost lingering.
March carries the energy of Ostara, the spring equinox, on the 20th of March, is a moment of perfect balance between light and dark. In the pagan tradition, Ostara celebrates the arrival of spring, balance, and renewal. Named after the Germanic goddess Eostre/Ostara, it honours fertility, new life, and the triumph of light over darkness. Traditional rituals include planting seeds, colouring eggs, and spring cleaning.
Easter is the most significant festival in the Christian calendar, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his crucifixion. It is a “moveable feast,” meaning its date changes annually based on a lunar calculation: it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. Easter this year falls in April but 50% of the time it falls in March and shares many aspects with pagan traditions; Eggs, Rabbits, Hot Cross Buns and likely derives its name from Ostara or Eostre the Germanic goddess of dawn.
March is also the season of the ‘Mad March Hares’ a phrase that originates from the hare behaviour you’re most likely to see the month of March. Things like madcap chases and furious boxing matches. This is not ‘mad’ behaviour but instead the courting of mating hares. The boxing was once thought to be between two males battling over the favour of a female however it is more likely to be an unresponsive female fighting off a male’s advances. March is the traditional month associated with this behaviour however you can see it anytime from December to April.
My Pottery name is Crow and Hare Pottery because of many reasons, one reason for that is ‘hare’ is my Indian nickname or rather what I am called is a shortened version of Hare in the Moon, another is that I have always loved to draw Hares. I am particularly drawn to their long ears graceful limbs.
March is also the month of my first ever shop drop! Yes at the end of the month I will finally be putting work into my shop for sale and if you want to have an early bird access then sign up for my newsletter which only gets emailed out 3 days before my shop drop giving you the early bird notice to get your hands on one of my pieces. I am only doing 4 shop drops a year.
In the Studio
My energy shifts in March. Windows start to open to let some fresh air in. Sunlight streams in the windows when it does peep out from the notorious Scottish clouds. The pace in the pottery really has started to get going now, as work made over the past months is completed and readied for the end of the month shop drop. Clay is starting to dry faster now and is aided by the regular kiln firings, which certainly make the pottery nice and toasty warm, clay responds more easily, feels more alive in my hands again and my old arthritic hands seem less stiff than they did over the winter months.
I am feeling the pressure now as my shop drop deadline approaches – have I made enough? Is it good enough? Will anyone like it? Are all anxieties that still plague me even that I have been making and selling for years. There is a different rhythm now, less waiting, more flowing. Everything feels possible again.
Despite looming deadlines, because that shop drop is coming closer and closer and hours spent in the pottery, I am now spending more time in my garden, tidying it up and getting ready for planting vegetables and herbs plus the inevitable more flowers and plants. I am excited to put my new sculptures into the garden and see the vegetation grow around them. It feels good to finally be out working in the fresh air with some sunshine and warmth on my skin even if it is only now and then.
Working with clay in March feels like working alongside the season, not against it. March teaches us that rebirth is rarely dramatic. It happens quietly. In damp soil, in half-formed ideas, in gentle shifts of light. Once the world stirs, it does not fall back asleep. May this month bring you courage to begin, patience to grow, and trust in what is unfolding. Oh, and did I mention the end of the month shop drop?
A Small March Ritual
- Plant seeds in your garden or windowsill. Herbs for kitchen or flowers for the bees.
- Make no knead Turkish style Flatbread. This bread goes well with soup, stews, curries and salads. It can be wrapped in sealable bag but it best eaten fresh. You can play around with the toppings; I have added grated cheese or onions or herbs and some olives and each time it has turned out very tasty.
| INGREDIENTS | METHOD |
| 250g Bread Flour or Plain Flour or All-Purpose Flour Extra Flour for Dusting Surface 200mls Water (just warm not hot) 2 teaspoons Sugar 8g instant Dried Yeast 1 teaspoon Salt 4 tablespoons Olive Oil 1 tablespoon Sesame Seeds ¼ teaspoon Flaky Sea Salt | in a big bowl put flour and 1 teaspoon of salt. In a jug mix water, yeast and sugar and stir well and wait for 5 mins Pour yeasty water into flour and mix well with a spoon. It should be a very wet, sticky dough. Cover bowl with cling film or a big saucepan lid and leave in a warm place for an hour to rise. Use 2 tablespoons of olive oil and oil a large oven sheet pan. When dough has doubled in size, turn oven on to 230C Generously flour your surface and scrape dough onto well-floured surface and sprinkle more flour on top of dough Stretch dough with fingertips and shape into a large rough circle about ½inch/1.5cm thick and then place on oiled sheet pan. Pour remaining oil over the dough and use fingers to spread oil over the dough and leave for 10 -15 mins. Using fingers indent the dough with line decorations that crisscross. Sprinkle sesame seeds and flaky sea salt over the dough surface and put into hot oven. Bake for 8 minutes and turn down temperature to 200C and bake for another 5 minutes or until golden brown all over. Remove from oven and carefully lift off baking tray onto wire rack to cool down. |