Heather fields

The heather is very early this year. We were talking to the farmer at the berry farm, he was telling me that all the fruit and berries are a good three weeks early this year so it is already blackberry season. Here too is the heather already showing its purple~pink coat. I don't think I remember it ever blooming in July as long as I have lived in Holland.

If you look closely (click to enlarge), you find the bee hives between the trees. The hives are placed in the middle of the heather fields as there is honey made from the nectar gathered by the bees among the heather. Holland has many types of honey and the heather honey is very popular.

How can we talk of heather without thinking of the Bronte Sisters and their life in the moors. Here is a poem written in 1836 by Emily:

High Waving Heather

Emily Brontë

High waving heather, 'neath stormy blasts bending,

Midnight and moonlight and bright shining stars;

Darkness and glory rejoicingly blending,

Earth rising to heaven and heaven descending,

Man's spirit away from its drear dongeon sending,

Bursting the fetters and breaking the bars.

All down the mountain sides, wild forest lending

One mighty voice to the life-giving wind;

Rivers their banks in the jubilee rending,

Fast through the valleys a reckless course wending,

Wider and deeper their waters extending,

Leaving a desolate desert behind.

Shining and lowering and swelling and dying,

Changing for ever from midnight to noon;

Roaring like thunder, like soft music sighing,

Shadows on shadows advancing and flying,

Lightning-bright flashes the deep gloom defying,

Coming as swiftly and fading as soon.