Tuesday 10th September
A spellbinding hour is capable of speaking to your
soul. In that short hour you can, quite
easily, get a little lost but always in the knowledge that you can find your
way back. Yesterdays rewilding challenge
was a time with the stars and we were fortunate to have a clear night. Armed with warm blankets off we went to look
at the stars. It takes about 20 minutes
to adjust your eyes but is so worth the wait.
The clouds that you think you see at the beginning are actually millions
of stars all clustered together. It is a
new way of seeing and a complete delight.
As your eyes adjust your peripheral vision will pick up the shooting
stars and this provides the drama. They
are occurring all the time and, although we know the less intriguing reality of
what we are seeing, we are spellbound by our stars streaming across the night
sky.
As the relationship with the stars gathered pace the
constellations came into view as did the planet Venus and in that moment you
realise how small you really are. The
brilliance of a single star is enough to park your ego at the door as you step
outside to marvel. In the still night
the sky lit up with a billion fairy lights and all we could do was watch with
wonder. That is a spellbinding hour and it
is to be recommended.
Dodging home school with Pete and the dreaded maths I took off
with my basket to harvest from the hedgerows.
The rewilding challenge today was to pay close attention to edibles so I
very much felt I was on task. I have
drafted a whole article on hedgerow harvesting for my new site One soul manyhearts to launch the Mindfulness Gardening page so I won’t give too much away
today. Suffice to say that it was a
productive hour or so and as I am going on holiday on Saturday I concentrated
on things I can dry while I am away. The
jams, jellies, cordials and syrups will have to wait until I return.
You will, perhaps, notice that my 30 minutes a day rewilding
seems to have been somewhat extended. I
posted that finding on our private facebook group and it drew lots of
confirmations. It would seem that people
all over the world that are engaged with this 30 minute challenge for 30 days
are experiencing the same as me. About a
third of the way through and we are already finding that 30 minutes just
doesn’t do it for us anymore. The need
to be outdoors is seeping into our souls and we are starting to crave it. This is the magic of the project and I am so
incredibly impressed. Each challenge is
prefaced with well researched and captivating information that feeds our brains
and makes us ‘need’ to get outside and discover for ourselves. It is a genius project and perhaps one of the
best things I have ever done.
What is interesting is that it is not limited to fair
weather. The need to be outside and
interacting with nature is so compelling that the weather ceases to make a
difference. I have been out in all
weathers in the past 10 days and it has not played the part it normally plays. In the past if it was raining and/or cold I
would be reluctant to head out but now it doesn’t even get a passing
thought. On go the wellies and the
raincoat and off I go to get lost with nature for a while. I am learning that it is often in the detail
where the delights truly lie. Big
natural statements will always catch our eye but I am finding that I am
searching out small detail like the tiny mushrooms clustered around a tree
stump and appreciating the beauty they offer us. Quite suddenly you find that the natural
world is encircling you and drawing you in to its world and you can’t help feel
that you would like to stay. I am
finding it harder and harder to go indoors again but perhaps that will be
easier once autumn turns to winter. That
said, winter is my favourite season as I was a winter baby. I feel the natural association with the
season and an early morning winter frost is one of my favourite experiences in
the year. Those that know me well know
that I am obsessed with spider’s webs that have been given the frost
treatment. We studied spider’s webs in
home school a few years back and I became everso slightly obsessed and this
obsessions remains. While the world is
sleeping I am often found to be out and about with my camera in search of the
most dramatic frosted spider’s web of all time!
I do not have a good history with spiders as I am scared of
them and, in particularly, the way they move.
But last night, without thinking, I removed one from my bedroom. Placing it carefully outside I was closing
the door before I realised what I had done.
A little jumping up and down and squealing later I was left wondering
what all the fuss was about. Am I ready
to tackle the ones that have those big chunky bodies and extraordinary long
legs? I don’t think so. That is what men were invented for. We can’t kill anything in our family with a
conservationist in our midst so I have raised three boys so that they can
remove spiders for me. Haven’t I done
well?
It is Tuesday and the weekend seems a bit distant but I am
wondering whether some of you reading this might venture out to visit your
local hedgerows (away from polluted roads) and just pick the odd thing. It will be worth it. Trust me!
You can not go wrong with the Collins book Food for Free as a guide but
I would always advise never to harvest mushrooms unless you have been on a
course and know what you are doing. If I
say sloes and gin that might just do the trick!
Until tomorrow. xx
No comments:
Post a Comment