Weathering storms — and new beginnings

Alice Taylor, author of To School Through the Fields, grew up on a farm along the Cork‒Kerry border, experiencing a way of life that, though physically demanding, was kind to the land. This is an extract from her latest book, Weathering Storms, in which she writes about the challenges of living well with aging

Alice Taylor: "I realised that tears were streaming down my face. Can you grieve for a tree? Now I know that you can."

Clung to the ground with shock, I simply could not believe my eyes. The whole garden was buried in an avalanche of huge grey branches. They towered above my head. There was no entry point to the garden as all the paths had disappeared under these enormous branches.

Covered in grey lichen and ivy, they rose above and beyond my vision. Where on earth had they all come from? And yet, there was something strangely familiar about them, but they belonged in another place, arching high into the sky.