So much for a barbecue summer. Though we have had a few good days, and maybe the last few could even be described as a brief 'Blackberry Summer.' I love seeing blackberries, dark and jewel-like hanging in the hedges. Unlike my neighbours, the ever vigilant Mrs Anubis Evans and Mr Sarcophagus Jones, I like a bit of wilderness in my garden. Mr Penry calls it 'benign neglect'.

In Wales it was traditional to leave a small patch of wilderness (especially nettles) which was said to be for 'the devil.' I suspect this is evidence of later Christianisation, and that originally the ground was left sacred to a pagan deity or earth spirit.

But if you want to pick your blackberries, you have to hurry. For in October (especially around the 10th) it will be Devil's Blackberry Day, and after this date it was traditionally considered unsafe to eat blackberries. Actually, if you look closely, you will see that around this time of year the bramble bushes become covered in small spider's webs, and the fruit themselves are often long past their best, and a bit 'wormy.'

When I was young my father always made blackberry cordial for us to stave off coughs and colds. I loved it, and also elderflower cordial, another rich, heavy syrup.

It's hard to remember that there was a time, not all that many years ago when oranges were strictly seasonal in the shops and hard to come by at certain times of the year. We used to make syrup from rose hips - my father said they had to be picked after the second frost of the year... if you picked them sooner they would be too hard, and if you picked them too late they would be too soft!

Whatever your spiritual path, it's worth noticing the Equinox. At the moment it's a bit like cycling uphill... and just about to go over the crest of the hill. No wonder so many of us feel a distinct unease (a word very closely linked to disease ) at this time of year. The balance is quite literally changing as the year shifts gears. Soon the nights will draw in and the shadows will lengthen.

This is the time of year when spiders start to take up residence indoors... and you will notice more of them out in the garden too. When storms approach, spiders get busy in their webs, tightening them up so they will survive the wind. An old saying ran:

If you wish to live and thrive
Let the spider run alive

[In my next post I hope to tell you a little bit about the corn dolly traditions...]