Introducing the Balance Garden podcast! Arriving with the Autumn equinox, as we ask what the transition between summer and winter might look like outside, on the land and in our communities, and inside, for us individually and collectively….

Today is the equinox, which translates from Latin as ‘equal night’. At 14.30 GMT, the Earth tilts at a right angle to the sun as it crosses the equator, so, it’s one of two days a year that we have the same length of day as night, and the Northern and Southern Hemisphere will get almost exactly the same amount of light and darkness as one another. It is the official, astronomical start of the Autumn in the North, and the Spring in the South.

During this episode we talk about this special time of the year… In part 1, Balance Garden producers, Tiger Lily Raphael (host) and Jasmine Pradhan (founder) reflect on how we got here, what Balance Garden is all about and where we hope to take you with this brand new podcast.

In part 2, Jasmine has a chat with her uncle, Tom Mettyer, who runs a 30-acre, organic farm in Dorset with his husband Mark, pictured here with their sheep at Haddon Copse Farm. Head to the blog for Tom’s delicious Dorset apple cake recipe and hear more on the podcast about this;

“real time of abundance, but there’s a sense that the season is changing and the land is winding down… it’s about preserving the warmth of the summer in ways, so that we can sustain ourselves in the dark winter to come”

The farm produces Soil Association certified, award-winning organic meat and is also a campsite which hosts oil painting courses and Balance Garden yoga retreats. Mark also contributes to the Balance Garden blog, where you can read his piece on Autumn Equinox: ‘Fruiting and Fading’.

In part 3, Tiger Lily talks about the myths and stories heard at harvest time, like that of the Ancient Greek Goddess Demeter, whose daughter was stolen away by Hades to the underworld until Spring. Also exploring the religious celebrations and traditions that surround the equinox, her Aunt, Melissa Raphael, Professor of Theology and Modern Jewish Thought, shares her writing on Rosh Hashana - Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur - the day of atonement that falls 10 days later, during the month of ‘Elul’.

Finally, in part 4, we sit back and take it all in, reflecting on the difference in this year’s seasonal shifts, and hearing an excerpt from Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings newsletter, which can be relied on for an inspiring curation of daily inspiration:

Between its falling leaves and fading light, it is not a movement toward gain or loss but an invitation to attentive stillness and absolute presence, reminding us to cherish the beauty of life not despite its perishability but precisely because of it; because the impermanence of things — of seasons and lifetimes and galaxies and loves — is what confers preciousness and sweetness upon them.

Podcast soundtrack

‘Yes Mic’ from the Manasseh Meets Praise LP, out on Roots Garden Records

Credits

• Producers: Tiger Lily Raphael & Jasmine Pradhan

• Editor: Tiger Lily Raphael

• Mastering engineer: Hal Wheeler

• Special guests: Tom Mettyer, Melissa Raphael