It’s been a busy few weeks, the clocks have shifted forward, spring has arrived and there’s an abundance of light as the days quickly stretch into the nights, encouraging new life to burst forth. Abundant Times is a hive of activity with some exciting plans taking root. In May, I’ll be posting an interview with Anna Gazeley, whose family owns the threatened 100-year-old Coton Orchard in Cambridge. A County Wildlife Site, Coton Orchard is the largest traditional orchard in Cambridgeshire and the eighth largest in England.

This beautiful 60-acre piece of land provides a haven for insects, animals, flora and fauna, hedgerows and of course many fruit trees. The orchard is under threat from a busway development that would see a 30-meter-wide road laid across the site and the removal of 100-year-old Bramley apple trees causing huge environmental destruction. There’s a major campaign – #BonkersBusway – supported by many influential campaigners to stop these plans and to encourage the local council to choose an alternative route that has far less negative impact, is cheaper and provides better transport services. Find out more about the orchard here and watch out for the blog next month.

In the summer (date to be confirmed) I’ll be launching the Abundant Times Zine, which will become a twice-yearly digital publication including stories, information, interviews, references and original artwork based on social and environmental topics. The look and feel will be strongly influenced by social and political protest literature from the 1970s and 80s. The first Zine is a Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp Special. What started as an idea for a blog at the back end of last year quickly grew into something bigger as I immersed myself in the history of this incredibly important protest. It started in August 1981 when a group of 36 women, from Women for Life on Earth, marched from Cardiff to Greenham Common Air Base in Newbury as an anti-nuclear campaign against Thatcher’s government’s plans to site cruise missiles at the base, it continued for a staggering 19 years.

I’ll share more information about the Zine in the run up to the launch so watch this space…