Wind, Work and the Turn of the Season at Mas Baget
The weather has been running the show lately.
First the rain… weeks of it. Not dramatic storms, just steady, soaking rain that settled in and stayed. The kind that seeps into everything and quietly changes the landscape. The tracks softened, the ground darkened, and the fields around the house turned a deep, healthy green. After the dry years we’ve had before, it felt welcome.
Then the wind arrived.
Strong, persistent gusts sweeping straight across the hill, pushing through the pines and rattling shutters through the night. The trees bend and sway, doors knock in their frames. You lie in bed listening to it and think, that’s a proper wind.
And yet, inside the house, it’s calm.
Mas Baget doesn’t move.
With stone walls almost 60 cm thick, the place feels solid and steady, no matter what’s happening outside. Originally a monastery, not a farmhouse, it was built to last. You feel that in bad weather. The wind can make as much noise as it likes, but the house just sits there, unmoved, as it has for centuries.
So while the weather does its thing, we get on with ours.
This time of year is always about maintenance and preparation. Cleaning, sorting, fixing, putting tools back where they belong. Opening windows, airing rooms, sweeping out winter dust. It’s practical work, nothing romantic about it. But it feels good to get the place ready.
Because the busy months are coming.
The diary is already filling up… birthdays, soil biologist retreats, acting courses, shamans, weddings booked in. Enquiries landing almost daily for this year and next. After the quiet of winter, you can feel the shift. Things are starting again.
In between jobs, there are small distractions.
Two ginger kittens have taken up residence on the kitchen windowsill. They sit there most of the day, watching everything like supervisors. Occasionally they wrestle. Occasionally they fall asleep in a heap. They make it hard to take anything too seriously.
Outside, spring is getting on with its work. Blossom is showing up on the trees. Wildflowers are pushing through the grass. Everything looks greener than it has in months. During the day, flocks of starlings gather and move together across the sky in tight, shifting shapes. The hoopoe is back too, pecking around the ground for grubs, completely focused on its task.
Nothing dramatic. Just the land waking up again.
It’s a good moment. Not the big summer energy yet, just the steady lead-in. The in-between time where you prepare, make lists, sweep floors and check that everything works.
The wind still rattles through at night, but inside it’s warm and solid. The house holds steady, the fields are green, the kittens are asleep on the windowsill.
And we’re getting ready to open the doors.
