Although winter brings its own wonders, it’s a joy to see new life emerging on the farm; trees begin to gain their green leaves as the sun steadily warms, and fresh shoots push up through the soil.

The word equinox comes from the Latin term for ‘equal night’: aequus (equal) and nox (night), and honours the day and night being of equal length. The theme of the equinox is ‘balance’, and Pagans believed that at this time, the masculine energy of the sun and the feminine energy of the moon were in harmony.

The Spring Equinox is a celebration of Earth’s awakening and stirring sense of life; the earth is waking from its winter slumber and bringing with it new gifts: blooms like tulips, daisies and crocuses lining paths, calves tentatively taking their first steps, and the unmistakable spring taste of wild garlic.

In ancient times, Pagans celebrated the goddess ‘Ostara’ during the Spring Equinox; the goddess of dawn, spring, fertility and rebirth. Work was carried out at this time to ensure a fruitful year on farms: horses, ploughs, seeds and homes were blessed, and predictions would be made for the health of livestock and crops.

April is always a busy month here at SCA. We’re now entering the “hungry gap”, a natural lull in the farming calendar between the end of winter crops and the readiness of spring crops, so it’s a time when all hands are on deck for planting, preparing and clearing.

“More grows in the garden than the gardener sows.”

This week, we planted tomatoes into the polytunnel. By summer, these plants will be towering above head height, a jungle of green vines and red fruit.

Over in the Oakbrook market garden, we’ve also been planting little gem lettuce, spring onions, mustard brassica salads, radish and beetroot. We sowed leek seeds into their nursery beds, reading to be later transplanted out in the Orchard field.

Meanwhile the winter brassica salads, chards and claytonia are all being cleared from their polytunnels as they transition to their summer rotations.

In other news, we’ve been repairing the muckspreder so we can return lovely rich organic matter to the sandy soils of Hawkwood and Oakbrook fields. Our tractor also had a bit of drama when a puncture appeared on the way to be serviced - luckily the tyre heroes in Gloucester came to the rescue!

There’s been plenty of life beyond the veg beds too. Migratory birds are arriving from the south and settling in for the season - we’ve already spotted two green woodpeckers. Two of Farmer Sam’s cows have calved, bringing the joy of new life to the farm. And we’ve been delighted to welcome the lovely Millie, who’s joined us from the Isle of Wight, for the growing season!

Our volunteers have been busy as always, weeding and tidying the tunnels, making net curtains for the polytunnel openings, and planting out beetroot plugs and spring onions at Oakbrook. Our beautiful compost was carried down from Hawkwood and raked onto beds, earning the seal of approval from our compost guru, Karen! All accompanied by plenty of chatting, laughing, eating hobnobs and putting the world to rights!

The hot days of late March appear to be over as we’ve been dowsed by grizzly rain showers, grey skies and wind. But as always, April showers bring May flowers, and we’ll be grateful for it when the fields burst into bloom.