Meg Bertera-Berwick
@megberteraberwick.bsky.social
Writing about land & memory. PhD in post-colonial stuff. Queer/bi/autistic. Shortlisted for the Nan Shepherd Prize 2023. Glasgow. Free 🇵🇸
On insta: @meg.berteraberwick
Newsletter: https://podbypod.substack.com/
Represented by @portyliterary.bsky.social
On insta: @meg.berteraberwick
Newsletter: https://podbypod.substack.com/
Represented by @portyliterary.bsky.social
Pinned
pod by pod | Meg Bertera-Berwick | Substack
A twice-monthly newsletter about growing, historic gardening practices and folklore, and learning from land - past and present - in a changing climate. Click to read pod by pod, by Meg Bertera-Berwick...
podbypod.substack.com
Lots of new followers thanks to all the starter packs, so here’s a wee intro! I’m an American-born writer/researcher living in Glasgow. My newsletter, pod by pod, explores relationships with land/plants through growing, historic gardening practices/folklore, and (increasingly) archaeobotany.
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
Last year, I decided to watch the winter solstice on the Newgrange livestream. As the light suddenly and decidedly split the dark of the tomb, I found myself also suddenly and decidedly sobbing, quite involuntarily. This month's newsletter is about that, and my new relationship with the solstice.
Solstice
on awe
podbypod.substack.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Last year, I decided to watch the winter solstice on the Newgrange livestream. As the light suddenly and decidedly split the dark of the tomb, I found myself also suddenly and decidedly sobbing, quite involuntarily. This month's newsletter is about that, and my new relationship with the solstice.
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
🏳️⚧️🇵🇸 Quakers holding the line w steadfast solidarity
British Quakers are refusing room bookings from terfs as policy.
If you were waiting for an org to stand up for LGBTQIA+ rights, and unflinchingly withstand bullying and lawfare, here you go, friends.
Good luck to the raging bigots, they'll get nowhere with threats.
If you were waiting for an org to stand up for LGBTQIA+ rights, and unflinchingly withstand bullying and lawfare, here you go, friends.
Good luck to the raging bigots, they'll get nowhere with threats.
December 19, 2025 at 10:44 AM
🏳️⚧️🇵🇸 Quakers holding the line w steadfast solidarity
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
"After a ... year of mostly experiencing horror at ... the increasingly bad-from-the-start things happening in the world, I began another year of resistance deeply affirmed that I am still capable of a wild, proportionate, instinctive response to something both so ordinary and utterly tremendous."
Last year, I decided to watch the winter solstice on the Newgrange livestream. As the light suddenly and decidedly split the dark of the tomb, I found myself also suddenly and decidedly sobbing, quite involuntarily. This month's newsletter is about that, and my new relationship with the solstice.
Solstice
on awe
podbypod.substack.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:42 AM
"After a ... year of mostly experiencing horror at ... the increasingly bad-from-the-start things happening in the world, I began another year of resistance deeply affirmed that I am still capable of a wild, proportionate, instinctive response to something both so ordinary and utterly tremendous."
Last year, I decided to watch the winter solstice on the Newgrange livestream. As the light suddenly and decidedly split the dark of the tomb, I found myself also suddenly and decidedly sobbing, quite involuntarily. This month's newsletter is about that, and my new relationship with the solstice.
Solstice
on awe
podbypod.substack.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Last year, I decided to watch the winter solstice on the Newgrange livestream. As the light suddenly and decidedly split the dark of the tomb, I found myself also suddenly and decidedly sobbing, quite involuntarily. This month's newsletter is about that, and my new relationship with the solstice.
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
People who aspire to be academics: I wish to live a life of the mind
Actual academics:
Actual academics:
I have a weird question for the #bird people on here. Do you think someone could tell that a book was pooped on specifically by a sparrowhawk (or perhaps hawks generally) just from the feces? I'm looking at a 16th c. case where witnesses claim books were pooped on specifically by sparrowhawks!
December 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
People who aspire to be academics: I wish to live a life of the mind
Actual academics:
Actual academics:
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
A thread on how I bought an old book about a place I am also writing a book about, and became the unsuspecting owner of a rare 19th #Glasgow artefact, connected with one of Glasgow’s most picturesque bridges!
December 17, 2025 at 8:31 AM
A thread on how I bought an old book about a place I am also writing a book about, and became the unsuspecting owner of a rare 19th #Glasgow artefact, connected with one of Glasgow’s most picturesque bridges!
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
A fascinating paper trail for any Sou-siders...
A thread on how I bought an old book about a place I am also writing a book about, and became the unsuspecting owner of a rare 19th #Glasgow artefact, connected with one of Glasgow’s most picturesque bridges!
December 17, 2025 at 11:22 AM
A fascinating paper trail for any Sou-siders...
A thread on how I bought an old book about a place I am also writing a book about, and became the unsuspecting owner of a rare 19th #Glasgow artefact, connected with one of Glasgow’s most picturesque bridges!
December 17, 2025 at 8:31 AM
A thread on how I bought an old book about a place I am also writing a book about, and became the unsuspecting owner of a rare 19th #Glasgow artefact, connected with one of Glasgow’s most picturesque bridges!
After nearly three years of navigating the suburban-front-garden-as-class-signifier, trying to find a comfortable way of creating something good within the frustrating parameters of suburban design politics, I had the personally liberating realisation:
19.3.25 – a front garden is a contribution
Over the winter, I looked up from my dissatisfaction with the half-hearted, half-finished front garden and it clicked.
podbypod.substack.com
March 24, 2025 at 8:13 PM
After nearly three years of navigating the suburban-front-garden-as-class-signifier, trying to find a comfortable way of creating something good within the frustrating parameters of suburban design politics, I had the personally liberating realisation:
19.3.25 – a front garden is a contribution
Over the winter, I looked up from my dissatisfaction with the half-hearted, half-finished front garden and it clicked.
podbypod.substack.com
March 24, 2025 at 12:33 PM
After nearly three years of navigating the suburban-front-garden-as-class-signifier, trying to find a comfortable way of creating something good within the frustrating parameters of suburban design politics, I had the personally liberating realisation:
28.2.25 - haunting the garden
For months, all I’ve done is look.
podbypod.substack.com
March 1, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
Coming back to writing after an unplanned winter hiatus, a long-ish piece on how I finally read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring after my uncle's unexpected death last month. #naturewriting
13.2.25 - on reading Silent Spring after the funeral
Last month, I went through US pre-clearance at Dublin Airport.
podbypod.substack.com
February 17, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Coming back to writing after an unplanned winter hiatus, a long-ish piece on how I finally read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring after my uncle's unexpected death last month. #naturewriting
Coming back to writing after an unplanned winter hiatus, a long-ish piece on how I finally read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring after my uncle's unexpected death last month. #naturewriting
13.2.25 - on reading Silent Spring after the funeral
Last month, I went through US pre-clearance at Dublin Airport.
podbypod.substack.com
February 17, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Coming back to writing after an unplanned winter hiatus, a long-ish piece on how I finally read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring after my uncle's unexpected death last month. #naturewriting
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
Jamaica Kincaid talks to Sandra Guzmán about colonialism, gardening, and worshipping her plants.
Trees of Life and Knowledge: Jamaica Kincaid on Colonialism, Gardening, and Worshipping Her Plants
At the Authors Guild Foundation’s third-annual WIT: Words, Ideas, and Thinkers Literary Festival in the Berkshires this September, acclaimed author Jamaica Kincaid spoke with journalist and editor …
lithub.com
January 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Jamaica Kincaid talks to Sandra Guzmán about colonialism, gardening, and worshipping her plants.
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
What happens when you gift the devil a plot of your arable land so he doesn't mess with your other crops and cattle? Ecological magic. #naturewriting #lifewriting
18.12.24 – theirs and ours
Until the late 1980s, Bedfordshire farmer Hugh White was a proud champion of conventional farming.
podbypod.substack.com
December 18, 2024 at 1:00 PM
What happens when you gift the devil a plot of your arable land so he doesn't mess with your other crops and cattle? Ecological magic. #naturewriting #lifewriting
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
"For the next 25 years, White proudly oversaw his farmland’s hands-off transformation into a mosaic of wildflower glades, hawthorn and blackthorn scrubland, and young woodland, which swiftly became a haven for nightingales, barn owls, turtle doves, orchids, butterflies, and countless other species."
What happens when you gift the devil a plot of your arable land so he doesn't mess with your other crops and cattle? Ecological magic. #naturewriting #lifewriting
18.12.24 – theirs and ours
Until the late 1980s, Bedfordshire farmer Hugh White was a proud champion of conventional farming.
podbypod.substack.com
December 18, 2024 at 2:06 PM
"For the next 25 years, White proudly oversaw his farmland’s hands-off transformation into a mosaic of wildflower glades, hawthorn and blackthorn scrubland, and young woodland, which swiftly became a haven for nightingales, barn owls, turtle doves, orchids, butterflies, and countless other species."
What happens when you gift the devil a plot of your arable land so he doesn't mess with your other crops and cattle? Ecological magic. #naturewriting #lifewriting
18.12.24 – theirs and ours
Until the late 1980s, Bedfordshire farmer Hugh White was a proud champion of conventional farming.
podbypod.substack.com
December 18, 2024 at 1:00 PM
What happens when you gift the devil a plot of your arable land so he doesn't mess with your other crops and cattle? Ecological magic. #naturewriting #lifewriting
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
For a list of Gazan accounts that have been verified as real as comprehensively as possible, check this thread by @mommunism.bsky.social. Pick one. Make them your project. You will feel better when you’re doing something to help. bsky.app/profile/momm...
I’m going to make individual posts for the Palestinian accounts I’m boosting today so they don’t get lost in a thread but if you are looking for them all in one place I’ll link them here 🔽
December 7, 2024 at 1:38 AM
For a list of Gazan accounts that have been verified as real as comprehensively as possible, check this thread by @mommunism.bsky.social. Pick one. Make them your project. You will feel better when you’re doing something to help. bsky.app/profile/momm...
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
This is terrible news! Auchindrain is one of the best historic sites in Scotland imo. It's a very important and very special place and there's nothing else quite like it. I took lots of photos and wrote about it. Link below.
www.thedrystonecompany.com/drystone-dia...
#Scotland #History #Museum
www.thedrystonecompany.com/drystone-dia...
#Scotland #History #Museum
December 6, 2024 at 8:03 AM
This is terrible news! Auchindrain is one of the best historic sites in Scotland imo. It's a very important and very special place and there's nothing else quite like it. I took lots of photos and wrote about it. Link below.
www.thedrystonecompany.com/drystone-dia...
#Scotland #History #Museum
www.thedrystonecompany.com/drystone-dia...
#Scotland #History #Museum
I’m thrilled to share that I'm now represented by Caro Clarke at Portobello Literary! It's a dream come true to work with this brilliant agent on a book that means so much, and to be in the company of the phenomenal writers they represent. I couldn’t have asked for safer hands or cooler people!
Portobello Literary
A literary agency based in Portobello, Edinburgh
www.portobelloliterary.co.uk
December 5, 2024 at 12:19 PM
I’m thrilled to share that I'm now represented by Caro Clarke at Portobello Literary! It's a dream come true to work with this brilliant agent on a book that means so much, and to be in the company of the phenomenal writers they represent. I couldn’t have asked for safer hands or cooler people!
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
That the Deputy Ambassador of Israel to the UK is still meeting with MSPs - including one from the SNP - should be a source of shame for our parliament.
No other representative of a government carrying out a genocide would be welcomed in Holyrood. Sickening
www.parliament.scot/-/media/file...
No other representative of a government carrying out a genocide would be welcomed in Holyrood. Sickening
www.parliament.scot/-/media/file...
December 5, 2024 at 11:36 AM
That the Deputy Ambassador of Israel to the UK is still meeting with MSPs - including one from the SNP - should be a source of shame for our parliament.
No other representative of a government carrying out a genocide would be welcomed in Holyrood. Sickening
www.parliament.scot/-/media/file...
No other representative of a government carrying out a genocide would be welcomed in Holyrood. Sickening
www.parliament.scot/-/media/file...
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
second day of strike today, support the journalists, please avoid Guardian online for next 24 hours
Guardian staff go on strike for 48hrs from 11am today - In a revolt against editor Katherine Viner and the plans to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media.
inews.co.uk/news/guardia...
inews.co.uk/news/guardia...
'It's a mess': Guardian editor faces revolt as staff stage historic strike
Guardian and Observer journalists are questioning editor Katharine Viner's position over the planned sale of The Observer to digital start-up Tortoise Media
inews.co.uk
December 5, 2024 at 8:33 AM
second day of strike today, support the journalists, please avoid Guardian online for next 24 hours
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
In this week’s newsletter, I respond to a bit from Richard Mabey’s new book (in which he likens the act of making a garden to a domineering act of colonialism) with lessons on disturbance from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s generous new book, The Serviceberry. A garden is not a colony, it's a disruption.
4.12.24 – on disturbance & The Serviceberry, and one last Kalendar
For three consecutive mornings this autumn, I spooked the robin and wren when I opened the back door for the dog.
podbypod.substack.com
December 4, 2024 at 7:21 PM
In this week’s newsletter, I respond to a bit from Richard Mabey’s new book (in which he likens the act of making a garden to a domineering act of colonialism) with lessons on disturbance from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s generous new book, The Serviceberry. A garden is not a colony, it's a disruption.
Reposted by Meg Bertera-Berwick
Today Guardian and Observer journalists are on strike over plans to sell the Observer to a loss-making digital start up and put its journalism behind a paywall. 🧵
How can you support us?
SHARE our posts
WRITE to guardian.readers@theguardian.com
JOIN US - there's cake!
How can you support us?
SHARE our posts
WRITE to guardian.readers@theguardian.com
JOIN US - there's cake!
December 4, 2024 at 9:08 AM
Today Guardian and Observer journalists are on strike over plans to sell the Observer to a loss-making digital start up and put its journalism behind a paywall. 🧵
How can you support us?
SHARE our posts
WRITE to guardian.readers@theguardian.com
JOIN US - there's cake!
How can you support us?
SHARE our posts
WRITE to guardian.readers@theguardian.com
JOIN US - there's cake!
In this week’s newsletter, I respond to a bit from Richard Mabey’s new book (in which he likens the act of making a garden to a domineering act of colonialism) with lessons on disturbance from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s generous new book, The Serviceberry. A garden is not a colony, it's a disruption.
4.12.24 – on disturbance & The Serviceberry, and one last Kalendar
For three consecutive mornings this autumn, I spooked the robin and wren when I opened the back door for the dog.
podbypod.substack.com
December 4, 2024 at 7:21 PM
In this week’s newsletter, I respond to a bit from Richard Mabey’s new book (in which he likens the act of making a garden to a domineering act of colonialism) with lessons on disturbance from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s generous new book, The Serviceberry. A garden is not a colony, it's a disruption.