Field Notes: February
We've got through the darkest, coldest month of the year!
Just a month has passed since my last Field Notes monthly update, but it feels like winter is finally drawing to an end. My spring bulbs are now growing steadily - I even have a couple of anemones in flower - and I’m spotting signs of spring all around me. Catkins, the first green buds and even a scattering of early blossom on the trees. Crocuses, snowdrops and primrose on the forest floor. Bullfinches and blue tits visiting my garden. It feels like the natural world is slowly waking from its long sleep.
I’m still settling into freelance life, but I’m slowly getting used to my new routines. Now that the days are growing longer, I’m finding it easier to get out of bed in the morning. Waking to the sun already shining (and builders noisily climbing onto our roof!) definitely helps. I have to try hard not to retreat into hibernation mode in winter - I would spend the entire season tucked up in bed with a pile of books if I could.
At the beginning of the month, I spent a wonderful weekend at Spinks Nest in Norfolk (ad / pr stay) which you can read about here. Last weekend, I enjoyed a couple of days in the Lake District with a group of friends and their babies: long walks through picturesque valleys and up mountains, delicious food enjoyed around a big table, unsuccessful evening expeditions to try to spot badgers, and good quality time spent catching up with friends. Even though where I live is surrounded by nature, it’s nice to have a change of scenery, and I always love a trip to the Lake District. My grandparents had a sailing boat on Windermere when I was young, and I have many happy childhood memories of visiting the Lakes. It always felt so far away when I was a child, but it’s really not that far from where I live and I’m definitely going to make an effort to spend more time there this year - summer swimming trips beckon!
The month ahead is filled with promise. Spring flowers, the first warm days, exciting work projects and a trip to visit my best friend in Brighton. March is also the month that I usually brave a swim in my favourite hilltop spot for the first time of the year. It’s still too cold for me to enjoy a dip, but the second the mercury rises I’ll be submerging myself for a quick swim. I’m literally counting down until late spring when I can enjoy longer, more regular swims. Not long to wait!
FIELD NOTES UPDATE
You may have noticed that I’m posting more regularly on here, but have placed a paywall on most of my posts. This is something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while, to help to support myself while ensuring I can afford the time to write on both here and my blog. I only decided to go ahead and add a paid subscription option (just £3.50 a month - the price of a cup of coffee) when I lost my job and decided to become fully freelance. My blog will always be free, these monthly updates will always be free, my Instagram will always be free - but anyone who signs up to my paid subscription on here is helping me to afford to spend my time creating all that free content.
I’m really enjoying writing on here, and blogging more regularly again. Posts for the month ahead will include: the story of my freelance journey, an affordable sustainable brands directory, more book recommendations, suggestions for celebrating spring equinox and my tips for how to live more in tune with the seasons.
GARDEN UPDATE
There have been exciting changes in our garden this past month! We’ve decided to focus on improving our back garden this year, giving us more room to grow vegetables and flowers and to create a small space to sit among our produce. Our back garden is on a steep slope, leading up the hillside behind our house.
The area directly behind our house was already terraced, with five levels divided by low dry stone walls. We currently have onions and garlic growing on the first and second level, and have plans to plant more vegetables on these levels and at the very top of our garden later in spring. We’ll also squeeze buckets filled with potatoes onto one of the terraces.
To the left of the steps that lead up the back garden has previously been untended and overgrown with an unattractive hedge and unhappy flowering currant tree marking the border between our garden and the woodland next door. We’ve cut the hedge and tree down (the tree was suffocated by ivy and half-dead, and there are many more trees, but I do feel sad about losing it) and are currently prepping the huge space we’ve gained for creating more terraces. Our dry stone waller is hopefully working on this space next month - we think we’ll be creating six levels that will mostly be used for creating beds for growing vegetables and flowers. On one of the lower terraces we’ll have a seating area, surrounded by dahlias, kale, chard and beans climbing up an old pole that is embedding in the ground. It’s a lot of work, and we need to dig up a LOT of roots before the work can start, but I’m excited to have more space to grow. I’ll share the progress on my Instagram.
MONTHLY EDIT
I’ve got spring clothes on my mind, especially this red Jaggery knit, the perfect pair of off-white jeans, these beautiful rust trousers, with my favourite features (elasticated waist and pockets!) and these incredible plaid trousers. All my jeans are either too big or too small, and I clearly have the perfect pair of trousers dominating my mind!
This month I’ve been plotting future trips to Mallorca, Croatia, the Alps, Wales, Devon and Italy - I’ll be travelling more by train this year and I’m contemplating finally taking that solo trip. I’ve been leafing through the beautiful pages of the new edition of Blumenhaus magazine, filling my favourite vintage vases with mimosa, and creating Pinterest boards filled with inspiration for my imaginary future dream home.
I’m preoccupied by planning my garden and dreaming of spring blooms at the moment, so my recommendations this month are all women who fill their feeds with flowers: @burchacres @petalbackfarm @signebay @thewildpotager @katylawrencefilm @kittengraysonflowers.
BOOK CLUB (*affiliate links)
I’ve read six books this month (including the book I have almost finished, which I won’t review until next month), all of which I’ve enjoyed. Here are short reviews of my favourites:
This is definitely worth the hype, and I’m really excited for the upcoming TV adaptation starring Jodie Comer. If you enjoyed Milk Fed by Melissa Broder, definitely add this to your reading list for when it’s released in May. It’s the story of Greta, who works as a transcriber for a sex therapist and becomes infatuated by one of her bosses’ clients - who she then meets IRL at the dog park. It’s funny, filthy and will keep you hooked until the last page.
In Ascension by Martin Maccines *
I loved all the big ideas in this book: where life comes from, is there anyone else out there in the universe, what could deep space travel look like? For fans of intellectual sci-fi films such as Arrivals, Contact and Interstellar, this was a book you really had to concentrate on (and I occasionally had to resort to Google to educate myself on certain subjects) but it was really worth it. The protagonist’s personal story of her relationship with her family is interwoven by interesting ideas for the future of space travel, food growth, off-planet living and, ultimately, the future of humanity.
This queer coming-of-age story is set during the miner’s strikes in the 1980’s. The story begins in a small town in the Brecon Beacons, before moving to Cardiff, London, Pembrokshire and Manchester, drawing me in with its setting as well as its lovable protagonist and a plot that kept me hooked. Eluned’s life changes forever when the fundraising group Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners visit her small hometown, introducing her to a woman named June who she falls in love with.
Thirst for Salt by Madelaine Lucas *
This quiet, beautifully written love story focuses around a woman looking back over a past relationship with an older man. Set in a small Australian seaside town, I loved the descriptions of the town and her lover, Jude’s cabin above the beach. I could imagine myself living somewhere like this, swimming in the sea every day and filling a house with treasured antiques. If you enjoy a doomed love story, make sure that you pick this up when it’s released in May.
BOOKS RELEASED IN MARCH (*affiliate links)
Have a wonderful March! Let me know in the comments below what you are looking forward to this month.
Emma xx