Chapter 7: Summertime and the living is easy 🌞
August 2025
Now the calendar has just rolled into August, I find myself with my feet up in the back of the truck, a much needed Friday afternoon rest after moving house. Time for a little summer update for anyone checking in with us here…
Around the summer solstice, we paid a visit to our new friends at the Welsh Mountain Cider company, a beautiful evening of live music and delicious hillside cider. And a special place in our hearts, since this is where the parent trees of our younglings reside, just 50 miles or so North in the Cambrian Mountains. It felt great to be camping next to the orchards in midsummer, where we could dream of how Rhuddin might be in years to come….
It really is a lush time of year here at Rhuddin. I can feel the high energy of the meadows. With its long grass swaying, it is a hillside haven for little wild things: green grasshoppers and crickets perching on stalks in the sun; frogs hidden and quiet in the cool grassy depths; moths and butterflies flitting over the flowers and tiny spiders scuttling out of the way as I walk gently by. Summertime and the living is easy. Long days and warmth make it quite the idyllic spot.
In the late afternoons, I’ve watched the swallows swirl and swoop around the skies catching insects. I’ve listened to the fields vibrate with the songs of the Orthoptera. The starry nights are incredible up here when it’s clear and on a very hot weekend camping here, we stayed up late watching a spectacular moon rise and shooting stars, glad to experience the cooler night air after the heat wave. During the daytime that weekend we had experienced temperatures of mid thirties as there was really no wind at all. We were not expecting temperatures like this up here on the hillside. And then we were like the sheep, hiding under the trees away from the fierce sun. We ventured out only to find idyllic wild swimming spots nearby (see the gorgeous photos). Rhuddin was very hospitable to us. We celebrated with camp fires and a refreshing homemade ginger beer was very popular (both for people and wasps!)
In terms of land management, scything has been the main activity here. Cutting tracks to make it easier to walk across the land and soon it will be time to cut the meadow down ready for next year. Compost and mulches are being made with the cut grass. Areas are being set aside for wildflower patches, where removing the grass and nutrients helps the wildflowers to thrive. Sowing yellow rattle seed here is another way to do this. Commonly known as the meadow maker, it is one of the most important plants you need. Seeking out the roots of vigorous grasses, more room is made for the flowers you hope to encourage there.
As well as the celebration of summer, we are celebrating having the truck back up and running. As well as it being an easy place to stay when we’re here working on the land, we can start our new projects of rain water collecting, and building structures for storing compost. Lots of plans afoot!
