Field Notes: May
Cow parsley and hawthorn season is here!
Hasn’t May flown by? One moment the trees were still bare and I was wearing knitwear, the next the temperatures were hitting the low twenties and I was sunbathing in my garden. Summer seems to have arrived with a bang, and I’ve been soaking up every second of this wonderful weather. This month has been a bit of a blur of gardening, work, hospital visits for both myself and Evie (my amazing little dog who I love to bits) and just wondering where the time has gone.
The past two weeks of sunshine has been magical. The town where I live comes to life in the summer - there are beloved places for wild swims, the landscapes outside my windows are luscious and green, and the countryside is filled with flowers. The beginning of the month was dedicated to bluebells; the best display I’ve seen in a few years with sweet-scented flowers carpeting the woodlands. Then my favourite hawthorn blossom burst into bloom across the valley, shortly followed by wisps of cow parsley and now the first few foxgloves. The evenings are long and bright, providing the perfect conditions for long walks along the canal, up hills and across meadows. Every time I am out in the sunshine, admiring the golden glow at the end of the day, breathing in the fragrance of all that blossom, and wading into a cold body of water I feel deliriously happy.
I’ve perhaps walked less this month than usual, however. My dog, Evie and I both had operations two weeks ago - mine a small procedure to remove polyps from my womb and hers a more complex surgery to remove lumps from her chest. Both of us are fine, but she still is supposed to be resting and isn’t allowed to go for her usual long walks. There has been a lot of lounging around and snuggling.
I wanted to mention my surgery here, as it took me so long to get a doctor to pay attention to my horrendous periods and I have since realised that so many women I know have also had polyps, fibroids or cysts removed from their wombs. Personally, I have been complaining to various doctors about my periods since they started over 20 years ago. This is the first time I managed to get someone to take action and look into the problem, and it was only because I told a new doctor that I was trying to get pregnant that they decided to look into my problems. Twenty + years of agonising period pain and very heavy bleeding, and last autumn was the first time I had a scan to see if there was a problem. My womb was full of polyps and a fibroid, and after a long wait (when I was temporarily forgotten about) the polyps are now removed and hopefully my periods should be less heavy. If you have similar issues with heavy and painful periods, please please continue to push your doctors to look into them!
The month ahead has plenty to look forward to: a holiday to the French Alps, photographing my first wedding, a work trip to Wales, decorating our bedroom and box room, and continuing to work in the garden. I’ll be sharing all of this on my Instagram and reporting back here at the end of June.
GARDEN UPDATE
There are so many exciting things happening in my garden at the moment that I can’t wait to share. The main bulk of work to create our new terraces is complete. We have effectively doubled the size of our back garden and have gained six new beds for planting, alongside a beautiful new picket fence giving views into the woodland next door. There is still a lot of work to do, but we spent the entire bank holiday weekend digging up roots and carrying a tonne of soil in buckets up our steep steps to prepare the first bed for planting. My seven dahlia plants are now in the ground, surrounded by a scattering of zinnia seeds and a bronze fennel, with cavalo nero and red Russian kale ready to plant in two rows behind. We then skipped ahead to the third bed, where my partner and a friend built a very impressive dry stone wall in yesterday’s heat. Once the last few roots are dug out of this bed and we’ve carried yet more soil up the steps, we will be planting our peas, strawberries and more flowers here.
On the ‘old’ side of the garden we currently have onions, garlic and a second planting of broad beans (our main crop is beside the greenhouse) growing. Two of the beds on this side will be left fallow this year, but we will be planting squash and pumpkins right at the top of the garden, and have room to plant something else around the broad beans.
There are still four of the new terraces left to prep. One of these will be a seating area, and we’re thinking of planting fruit bushes at the top of the garden, so that leave us with two beds for planting. One bed will be based around leeks and the other courgettes, with complementary flowers and other veggies surrounding them.
Hopefully this time next month I will be able to share photos of our lush and growing garden!
MONTHLY EDIT
This month I’ve been distracted with interiors and gardens while planning my own updates. I’ve been dreaming of wallpaper-covered walls thanks to Polly Fern, Rogue's Cottage in Deal, Jen Kay, Cote de Folk and Glebe House. Meanwhile, I’ve been seeking interiors inspiration for everything from curtains to colour from East London Cloth, Sterrekopje Farm, Sarah Brown Interiors and Rachel Chudley. In the garden, I’ve been saving advice from the usual suspects Sarah Raven and Farmer Gracy, as well as Pollyanna Wilkinson, Sprout Surrey, Floral Days in the Shires and Poppy Okotcha. And for general spring vibes I’ve been fawning over @thewildwoodmoth, @nordic_stories, @_flowerandland and @katecullenstyle on Instagram.
Also, just a note that the Books sections of this newsletter has moved over to a stand alone newsletter. You can read this month’s edition here.
And if there is anything else you would like to see me to include in this newsletter, please do let me know!
I am so glad you finally found a doctor who listened to you and took your complaints seriously, even though it took a "reason" (ie. wanting to get pregnant). I am in perimenopause and the lack of knowledge and even curiosity about perimenopausal symptoms from numerous doctors I've seen is astounding. It often feels like a shrug of the shoulders and "Women are so mysterious! Who knows?" attitude. Geez, I dunno, maybe try actually funding research on women's health? Sigh. I recommend subscribing (for free) to Dr. Jen Gunter's Substack newsletter. She is an incredible doctor who has taken to explaining the realities about all aspects of women's gynecological health issues in a research-based way. I've learned a lot from her. She famously took to the internet to lambast Gwyneth Paltrow's "jade vagina eggs" a few years ago so she's solid!