I recently finished reading Orchard a nature diary written about each month is an “old” naturally managed orchard. By this it means laid down in the thirties and not intensively farmed.

With two author alternating chapters the book read as a series of essays that often repeated points across chapters or explains things multiple times. When it works though it is a wonderfully wrought picture of the complexity of ecosystems with animals in complex webs of interdependent behaviour over the course of the year.

It also highlights some of the madness of industrial farming techniques where trees are sprayed in pesticide which kills the pollinators that the trees need to actually grow the fruit that people are trying to farm.

There’s a moment when the EU gets blamed for its farming policies but in another chapter a part of Hungary is lauded for its traditional biodiverse farming methods. I felt that maybe the problem is a bit closer to home but I guess we’re going to find out soon whether the problem is really capitalism or government policy.

The cover is a beautiful geometric block print which is extremely handsome.