Compost for the soul roundup: September 2025
Welcome to this month’s compost for the soul roundup!
It’s no secret that I, as a specialist sustainability translator, spend a lot of time consuming all sorts of different media about our relationship with the land and the planet more generally.
Quite a lot of this is captured in my monthly CPD roundups, but some is not exactly CPD in the conventional sense (and frankly I already do more than enough to meet the requirements of my professional bodies). And rather than letting these brilliant sources of inspiration go un-noted, I share them here, in a monthly roundup of inspiring and moving blogs, podcasts, films, articles, etc.
The idea is to showcase a few things every month that have either shifted my thinking or that have in some other way inspired, uplifted or motivated me over the month. They represent words and ideas that have taken root in my mind, and I offer them to you now, in the hope that you will find fertile ground in your life too.
And if you don’t want to wait a whole month for the next roundup, you might want to follow me on Instagram, where I share these things from time to time. In the meantime, you can find previous summaries here.
Autumn Reflections (Roeselien Raimond)
Not a typical choice of publication for me, but I came across this reader contribution on a HuffPost platform and couldn’t help but think “That’s it, she’s quite right”. Interestingly, HuffPost has flagged it as an old piece and directs you towards more recent content, but I think what it has to say about Autumn is timeless.
You shouldn't talk about autumn.
Autumn should be done.
Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/autumn-reflections_b_6075186
Wintersmith (Terry Pratchett)
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Terry Pratchett is one of my favourite authors. I could quote at length from many of his books, including Wintersmith, which is about a number of things, but centres on a trainee witch who – quite accidentally – temporarily becomes the embodiment of Summer. But it’s the author’s note about the role of the Morris dance that feels most appropriate right now, seeing as the turning of the year seems to be an emerging theme this month…
“The Morris dance…
… is traditionally danced on May 1st, to welcome in the summer. Its history is a bit confused, possible because it’s often danced near pubs, but it is now the English folk dance. the dancers usually wear white, and bells sewn on their cloths.
I invented the Dark Morris for another book (at least, I think I invented it), reasoning that since the year is round the seasons might need more than one push. Once, when I was on a book signing tour a Morris side turned up in all black, just for me. They danced the Dark Morris in silence and perfect time, without the music and bells of the ‘summer’ dance.
It was beautifully done. But it was also a bit creepy. So it might not be a good idea to try it at home…”
Available in book form only!
Come and be welcome (Heather Dale)
The thing I love about this song is that it works at any time of year. You can picture it being sung at a Midsummer party, with people gathering to enjoy a long, relaxed evening by the fire, but it also suits the image of a warm hall and a comfy seat by the hearth after a cold long day’s travelling or toiling in the fields just as well. A real all-rounder!
“Come from the forest and sit 'round the fire
Come from the fields and enter our hall
Come drink from the guest-cup
Come join in our circle
Come and be welcome ye bards one and all!”
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASKKvojlqro
Once Upon a Forest: A Twig Poet’s Rewilding Journey (Campfire Stories)
I wasn’t familiar with Maria Westerberg’s work before coming across this documentary, but I’ll certainly be looking into it more now. This starts as a charming short documentary about Maria, Sweden’s ‘twig poet’, but it’s no mere fluff piece. It chronicles Maria’s work to undo the damage done by years of commercial forestry and land management that prioritised monoculture over biodiversity. It’s strangely reminiscent of the story that Suzanne Simard tells in Finding the Mother Tree, if perhaps in a more poetic way than the somewhat more scientific approach Simard takes.
“They said ‘Go out in the forest, and then you come back. And I went out to the forest, and I just didn’t return. So the question is if I ever got well. But it doesn’t matter, because I feel well.”
“After my 100th planted – or replanted – tree, I had stopped crying. Because I was so tired, physically. And after my 300th tree, I discovered that a squirrel was following me, like he was doing some sort of research, of a fool trying to rescue something that is unrescuable. At my 800th tree, I started to feel some kind of strength, and hope, and I was eager to wake up in the morning, because they all started to live, and they wanted to live, and it was really nice – I’m actually saving something.”
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5ozGHIK03A