The Spring Tonic Episode 2 - CURIOUS

This week Lisa & Becs are feeling curious and ready to try something new. 

Join them to explore spring foraging and experimental cooking, picking up the things they tried in lockdown and discovering why being curious is good for all of us. 

Pop the kettle on and pause for a moment with an original short story plus we’ll hear from Mind, which is supporting A Spring Tonic through Pause, the monthly subscription box.

To subscribe or order a copy of the magazine visit thesimplethings.com

Transcript

Lisa Sykes (00:07):

Welcome to season two of our podcast in which we're welcoming spring and finding small ways to live well, if you're not feeling spring light yet and you're in need of a tonic, then you've come to the right place, episode one saw us chatting about treats and how they lift your mood. Today in episode two, I'm here with Becs, our wellbeing editor, and we're feeling curious, ready to explore something new to you. Are you up for a bit of that Becs?

Becs Frank (00:28):

I'm really ready for getting out there and doing some new things, Lisa. Definitely. I know

Lisa Sykes (00:33):

I am feeling curious. The world is ready for me. I'm ready for the world. Yeah. Our season two has been supported by Pause, which is a monthly subscription box from the mental health Charity Mind, and we're going to be hearing from them a little later in the episode and finding out a bit more about it. And I, for one, I'm very curious to know more about it. You can also discover for yourself at pauseformind.org.uk slash simple. And the link is also in our description on the app. So here we are then in spring and we're in the middle of what we call the Hungry Gap, which is where there's not really that much going on in your veg patch. There's not much to harvest. We're all a bit sick of root veg and nothing else is really ready yet, but the countryside is much more abundant than the veg patch at this time of year. And one way to explore that is to go foraging. And we've covered foraging a lot, Becs in the magazine, haven't we? Yeah, we've done a whole series on it. And Becs, it be you like a bit of foraging, don't you?

Becs Frank (01:26):

I do because I'm not a huge, well, I don't have a huge, I've got a little tiny veg patch, so foraging really appeals to me actually because I like walking. I like getting out into the countryside and I live in Somerset, so there's quite a lot of opportunity. I did a great foraging walk, a hedge foraging walk a few years ago, and that's really stuck with me, the different things that we found and noticed. And from the shrubs to the little flowers to the edible flowers, little

Lisa Sykes (01:53):

Bits of, there's a lot about stopping and noticing, isn't there? I once worked with a forger and he said, you can't treat it like a walk because you have to stop all the time and look at the little stuff. And actually it makes you realise how when you walk with your dog or you go walk, you don't always do that, do you?

Becs Frank (02:09):

No. It's much more of an amble and you're using all your sensors.

Lisa Sykes (02:12):

Absolutely.

Becs Frank (02:13):

Which, yeah, so it's actually really kind of good for you as well, because you are smelling different things, you're touching things, you're really engaged with nature, which we know brings a lot of benefits to the mind and body.

Lisa Sykes (02:25):

And you don't even have to go that far, do you? Because nettles, you're going to find those even in your garden. Well, certainly in my garden,

Becs Frank (02:31):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (02:32):

Or down the road.

Becs Frank (02:33):

No, exactly.

Lisa Sykes (02:34):

And we've got a great recipe, I dunno if you've seen it yet, but it's in our April issue, which is the one that's just gone on sale and it nettel rare bit.

Becs Frank (02:43):

Oh

Lisa Sykes (02:43):

Nice. I mean, I'm a fan of a rare bit anyway,

Becs Frank (02:46):

I love rabbit bit. Yeah. And nettles actually do give a really nice flavour to things.

Lisa Sykes (02:51):

I know. It's very good.

Becs Frank (02:52):

I dunno if you ever tried cooking with them.

Lisa Sykes (02:54):

What have you made with them?

Becs Frank (02:56):

I made a nettle soda bread. Oh yeah. Which was really simple. You just remember your gloves. Soda bread's really quick and easy, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it gives the bread a really nice and a little green flack and a kind of Herbie fresh flavour. It was really popular even with my kids who thought the idea of it was quite disgusting.

Lisa Sykes (03:15):

Does it taste sort of netty or is it more Herbie?

Becs Frank (03:19):

I think it's more Herbie, a bit like spinach, but kind of slightly fresher taste. It's good. And you just pick the little tops, right?

Lisa Sykes (03:28):

Yeah. And obviously you have to use gloves. Yes. And then how do you get rid of the sting?

Becs Frank (03:32):

So you want the young nettles, you want the tops, you blanc the nettles. Once you've picked them, you blanch them in water, boiling water, not for very long at all. And that takes away the sting. And then you can obviously handle them Brilliant. But you need quite thick gloves to do the picking as well. Don't take some thin little

Lisa Sykes (03:50):

No. And so maybe if you don't fancy nettles, there's obviously wild garlic, which is very fashionable now, isn't it?

Becs Frank (03:55):

Yeah,

Lisa Sykes (03:56):

Lots of restaurant menus have wild garlic, but we have been covering it in the magazine for quite a long time. We're not one of these new people.

Becs Frank (04:05):

We were there

Lisa Sykes (04:06):

First. Absolutely. Wild garlic. I mean, I've got, Sussex is one of the most wooded counties, so there's always lots here because they growing in kind of shady places. They can be a bit dam poor, they can be a bit dry, but you find them at the edge of hedgerows and woodlands.

Becs Frank (04:19):

Yeah,

Lisa Sykes (04:20):

Yeah. No, and you can smell them before you see them actually, can't you?

Becs Frank (04:24):

Yeah, you can smell it, you can taste it. There's no mistaking it, which is why it's a great thing to forage for as well. And it's usually abundant. So I think if you're picking it, just try and spread the air at different areas. Don't go all out on one patch. And I like it pops up, doesn't it? Depending on how much so, or shade that little bit of woodland gets.

Speaker 3 (04:42):

Yes,

Becs Frank (04:42):

Because it's a short season, so we do go all a bit out in our house on wild garlic.

Lisa Sykes (04:47):

Yeah, no, it's only like a month or six weeks or something, isn't it? But you can freeze it because once it starts flowering, it gets over a bit. Although we run a series in the magazine called Veg Patch and she's going foraging this month, hence the nettle rare bit. But we also talk about wild garlic popping candy because apparently the seeds, they pop if you chew them. I'm not sure what garlic sweets are my absolute go-to, but

Becs Frank (05:14):

They're definitely healthier version of the popping candy and quite pungent as well on the breath, I would've thought.

Lisa Sykes (05:22):

Yeah, I should imagine. But actually I grew some because obviously you don't want to uproot them. They're bulbs and you want to leave some for the wildlife as well. But actually I went to a charity plant sale last spring and I bought some because someone obviously had them in the garden and they just divided it and I bought some and I've got a whole patch in my garden now.

Becs Frank (05:43):

Have you? And has that taken well?

Lisa Sykes (05:45):

Yeah, well really well. And that's the thing, they can be a little bit of a thug, but I have got quite a big garden and I planted them under my hedge, so they kind of look like a little mini woodland, which is nice.

Becs Frank (05:54):

Well, one of the easiest things you could make with it, Lisa, is gone just some garlic butter, wild garlic butter.

Speaker 3 (06:00):

Oh yeah.

Becs Frank (06:01):

If you're kind of thinking, oh, I really want to use it, but I've hardly got any time or just shred it up, you would any kind of herb whenever you use garlic or a herb into a risotto, but the butter you can freeze. And that's what we did in little ice cubes.

Lisa Sykes (06:13):

Oh, well you make

Becs Frank (06:14):

Like a log or you can

Lisa Sykes (06:15):

Make a log. Yeah. Oh, or cubes. Yeah. Yeah.

Becs Frank (06:18):

And then obviously it will last

Lisa Sykes (06:19):

You for the year. One of the things I like to make with it is it's so easy you just get a muslin strain, some Greek yoghourt through.

Becs Frank (06:27):

Yeah, nice.

Lisa Sykes (06:28):

Put garlic, parsley, and salted. And it's so tasty with flatbreads and grilled meat. And I

Becs Frank (06:34):

Was going to say great with a flatbread.

Lisa Sykes (06:36):

That

Becs Frank (06:36):

Sounds good.

Lisa Sykes (06:37):

Really nice. And I make it quite a lot because it's just so dead easy and obviously can you do it with normal garlic as well. But this time of year it's really nice. And then of course a bit later on you've got Hawthorne and elder flowers as well, so you can make cordial and fis and actually the young leaves and buds from Hawthorne, you need to pick them when they've got this pink flush on them. That's right. And when the leaves are really light green, once they've gone dark green, they're much more bitter. Really

Becs Frank (07:05):

Bitter. Exactly.

Lisa Sykes (07:06):

Yeah. Yeah, they're really nice on salads. And we've got also a GOs flower cocktail in the April issue.

Becs Frank (07:13):

I love that. And using them in cocktails and drinks,

Lisa Sykes (07:17):

Which

Becs Frank (07:17):

Is a great idea as well. And the flowers just look so pretty, they just in a salad. It's a great thing to do in spring. I know. But a bit later on as well, I'd wanted a great foraging walk along the estuary in Berkshire and we were finding really different things, obviously the sea vegetables, and they were great to taste because I love that sort of salty flavour to you of the sandfire and the asta really nice. So you can kind of choose different areas and it is really worth joining a foraging walk or if you can't do that, at least getting a little pocket guide or something and taking it with you.

Lisa Sykes (07:50):

Yes. Yeah. I think the nice thing about foraging in spring and summer is it's not really necessarily about mushrooms, which of course people find a bit more worrying,

Becs Frank (07:59):

A bit more

Lisa Sykes (07:59):

Risky. So for beginners, I mean obviously, yeah, you have to be a bit careful. So giant hog weed can look a bit like elder flowers and you have to make sure it's not literally of the valley, which is poisonous rather than wild garlic. But the smell alone will tell you it's not.

Becs Frank (08:12):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (08:13):

And like you said, we don't want to pick too much, but why do we foraging so much though? It makes us feel really good, doesn't it? Is it just being a hunter gatherer?

Becs Frank (08:22):

Yeah, I think definitely an element of that. And just again, being outside, not being in a rush. Often even when we're walking, we've got a bit of an to B kind of mindset going on we or where we've got our headphones on or we're on the phone. And it really makes you pause a little bit and connect with the nature around you and just notice things, notice how things are changing, when things are coming up, when things are going. And that connection with nature has been shown to really bring all those benefits that you'll have heard about with nature, the calm, the stress relief.

Lisa Sykes (08:53):

Yeah. Well I should give you a little plug here, Bex, because bey has actually become a bit of an authority on this reading, researching a book which has just come out called Just Add Nature and it's supported by the National Trust. And that's out this month I think, isn't it?

Becs Frank (09:06):

Yeah, it should be out now if not imminently. And there's lots of little ideas in there all about how nature can benefit your wellbeing, but also ways to go out there and experience it for yourself.

Lisa Sykes (09:17):

Great. And of course what we did in lockdown, which I know seems a long time ago now, we tried lots of these new things we foraging became really popular

Becs Frank (09:25):

And

Lisa Sykes (09:26):

That first spring, particularly when the weather was good and if you weren't actually sick, there was just a little bit of novelty about it. There was before things deteriorated horribly, but how do we keep those things going now or bring them back? I've definitely stopped doing some of the things because one of the things I did was just north of us. So I live in Sussex as I said, and we are just south of Gatwick and so north of us there's a whole sway of land that's right under the flight path. And I never go walking there because it's just noisy. And obviously there weren't any flights

Becs Frank (09:56):

Flight of

Lisa Sykes (09:56):

Course. And we explored the dog and I just went out all over the place and it was like this little pocket of the southeast that had been forgotten about. So there were no houses and some farms and that's so interesting. I never thought of that. And it was really, I wouldn't say it unspoiled, but it felt like you'd gone back in time a little bit. The southeast is really busy area, there's lots of commuters and

Becs Frank (10:20):

Traffic

Lisa Sykes (10:20):

And it just wasn't like that. And of course I could still go, I could just put some headphones on and not listen to the flights and I've kind of stopped and I just, I dunno. Are there certain things that I'd like to start doing again? How about you?

Becs Frank (10:32):

Yeah, definitely. I mean there were lots of little things that I started doing and then some of them I've stopped. But one thing that was the daily home exercise.

Speaker 3 (10:42):

Yes.

Becs Frank (10:42):

That I remember Joe Wick. Absolutely. I was doing that with my son quite a lot in the morning. And then I wanted a bit of something for myself as well. So I started doing yoga and bar at home and I'd just take a bit of time away in my bedroom, get my mat out and even if it was just for 15 minutes and I have continued with that because I'm not very good at as most of hours. I was planning to go to the gym three times a week and then life gets in the way, but there's not really ever an excuse to not do something for 15 minutes at home.

Lisa Sykes (11:09):

No. And the thing I really liked doing was stopping properly for lunch. Oh yes. Because the kids were around and off home and Did you sit outside? Yeah, we sat outside. We all ate together. It was some Italian family, same had endless long lunches. There's no reason we could still do this in the school holidays. If we're off work or we're working at home, you can just stop for lunch.

Becs Frank (11:32):

Well, we should all stop for lunch anyway. We

Lisa Sykes (11:34):

Should stop

Becs Frank (11:34):

For lunch in any day because

Lisa Sykes (11:36):

Absolutely

Becs Frank (11:37):

Motoring on through isn't good for us.

Lisa Sykes (11:39):

I did get very organised as well. I sorted out my freezer and store cupboards, made an inventory. Did you? Which is still on the whiteboard. That's impressive because I haven't actually updated it since then and that's probably four years ago. So yeah, no, I think we got more creative. We were cooking every meal at home. So you didn't do the same dishes. And what would you like to do now that you weren't doing that or you were doing then?

Becs Frank (12:04):

So I think more exploring my own area, which is kind of what we were talking about and just being a bit more curious and adventurous, but not without having to go too far because I think when you can, the sort of inclination is always to jump in the car and if you've got a nice day, where should we go? And actually there's loads to do and see with walking distance really on our doorstep. On your

Speaker 3 (12:24):

Doorstep.

Becs Frank (12:26):

We were a bit more adventurous with that in lockdown. So I think we should do more of that this spring and summer

Lisa Sykes (12:33):

And doing different things is good for us, isn't it? Being curious is good for us, but I know you'll be able to tell me the science bit why?

Becs Frank (12:41):

Yeah, so it's all about the neuroplasticity in the brain. So when we do new things, the brain has to adapt and change and that creates new neural pathways, which basically just makes us more cognitively capable, so sharper faster.

Lisa Sykes (12:59):

So we're actually improving our brains by doing

Becs Frank (13:02):

This and improving our memory and improving our ability to learn new things because we all know as we get older at any age our brain is ageing. So challenging it with new skills and experiences makes it easier to learn new things and makes us feel younger. It does and it's fun.

Lisa Sykes (13:17):

We're going to pause now to listen to our short story, which celebrates curiosity. If you're not a regular reader of the simple things we commission and publish an original short story in every issue of the magazine. So I really hope you enjoy this one River without end. A short story by Ali Shaw, although she called it the river, it was in truth just a shallow stream bending between the buildings of her business park. For years she'd visited during lunch breaks, eating her sandwiches on an old bench fixed to the bank. It was not a particularly scenic spot, but it gave her all she needed one peaceful hour every day of the week. Sometimes she arrived at the river and found the bench already taken where upon she knew her afternoon was ruined. Likewise on filthy winter days where the rain wriggled down the office windows and she stayed indoors with colleagues, she quickly felt dried out as if she were made of dead leaves.

(14:17):

Eventually she started going to the river regardless of the weather, dressed in her waterproof trousers, raincoat and wellies. She'd slip away through the downpour, feeling like some secret agent moving beyond enemy lines on the wettest stays. Her sandwiches got beaten, soggy as she ate. And one time she even sat through a hailstorm at first feeling stunned by the ferocity of the pellets, then laughing at the icy crunch they added to her bread the first time she visited the river at the weekend she asked herself if she had lost her mind, what kind of person spent Saturday morning voluntarily hanging around in their business park, but she spent Saturday afternoon there too and went back again on Sunday. She delighted in letting the hours meander by watching the sheen on the surface ebb with the inclination of the sun. Come Monday, however, a Mia lunch hour had ceased to be enough.

(15:08):

She returned very late to her desk on Tuesday, later still and all the time the river was pouring through her thoughts without end what's happening, she kept asking herself, where has all this come from? Then on Friday just afternoon, she decided to find out she rose from the bench and began walking upstream without any, she had to scramble along the banks clinging to the roots that knuckled out of the earth. Then she came to a place where the concrete walls of two office blocks squeezed the water into a narrow gully between them. If she wished to continue, she had no choice but to paddle. It wasn't as cold as she'd anticipated. Once the water has seeped into her shoes and socks and it only came up to her shins, she splashed through the gully and out of the business park and there saw the river cosing straight towards her through green farmland.

(15:57):

Of course it would now be possible to walk on the grass beside the water, but she did not. She stayed in the river taking sloshing steps against the current, sometimes through sunshine and sometimes through shade, cast by the trees on the banks. I duck sailed past her and she greeted it. Hello? She said it quacked nothing back. Not at all curious to see her there. For some reason, the ducks indifference made her nagging doubts resurface. Was this not an healthily strange behaviour? Should she not turn downstream and put this obsession behind her, it would not be too late to salvage things at the office, even if her soaked shoes and trousers raised a few eyebrows, she looked at her feet on the riverbed and discovered that they were surrounded by fish, dark black shapes hardly out of their minow days, pushing against the flow with all their might she steeled herself, looked straight ahead, miniature waves slosh against her trousers legs. She carried on waiting.

(16:57):

So I hope you enjoyed that story of someone following their curiosity. Here's another opportunity to try something new. The new subscription box from Mind, which is supporting the whole of our spring tonic season. I'm here with Rosie Weatherly from Mind, who's going to tell us a little bit more about it and the good work a subscription can support. Hello Rosie. Welcome to Small Ways to Live Well.

Rosie Weatherley (17:16):

Hi, I'm so excited to be here.

Lisa Sykes (17:18):

Oh, it's nice to have you. And so to start off by telling us all what Pause is and why Mind launched it.

Rosie Weatherley (17:24):

Sure. So Pause is a subscription donation. What that means is you donate to Mind anything from seven pounds 50 a month or you can donate more if you choose. And as a thank you, Pause sends you a box every month and the inside the box is something that will help to boost your wellbeing like a little me time. Treat something to just slow you down, give you something to focus on, something that might inspire a moment of creativity or relaxation or reflection.

Lisa Sykes (17:55):

Nice. Well I've got my first box actually here, but I'm saving it even though you've persuaded me. I want to open it right now because I'm going to be opening it in a later episode and seeing what's inside. So I'll still save that for later.

Rosie Weatherley (18:10):

Oh, I hope it's a good one.

Lisa Sykes (18:12):

Yeah, I think so. I'm looking forward to it very much. And so why did Mind Launch Pause? Because obviously Mind Mental Health Charity do lots of good work. I'm sure lots of people know that, but why did they think Pause would be a good idea?

Rosie Weatherley (18:24):

Well, we know that people that are inclined to support mind whether or not they've got a mental health problem are often quite concerned with optimising their own wellbeing, trying to find ways to stay well live better, all of the kind of things that you explore on TST, really.

Speaker 3 (18:43):

Sure. Yeah,

Rosie Weatherley (18:44):

It seemed like a natural way to thank our supporters for choosing us and prioritising us and also to feed that kind of curiosity.

Lisa Sykes (18:53):

Oh, I'm sure our readers would love to try some activities. And what sort of things might they end up doing?

Rosie Weatherley (18:58):

So the Pause team are really, really secretive about what's in the boxes. So I don't know for sure.

Lisa Sykes (19:05):

It's a mystery though.

Rosie Weatherley (19:06):

Yeah, they're so secretive. But when I was in a meeting with them recently, we were talking about Pause and I said, oh, I've been doing this craft thing recently. And basically what it is is you just take an old Christmas card or birthday card and with a bit of clever folding, you can turn it into a tiny little box and they're like, oh, is it like this? And showed me a blueprint and yeah, that was exactly what it was. So it tends to be something crafty, something that might encourage a bit of relaxation, something that might get you thinking. So I think I've read a testimonial from someone that was like, I really love the postcards and sending the postcards to my friends and family. So whilst I dunno what's in the boxes and I truly dunno what's in the boxes, people say that they

Lisa Sykes (19:46):

No, but I think that's quite nice, isn't it?

Rosie Weatherley (19:48):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (19:48):

That it's a surprise.

Rosie Weatherley (19:50):

Yeah, yeah,

Lisa Sykes (19:51):

Because you get so much things in many things in the post that you think, oh, I know what that is. It's actually really nice to have something arrive and you think, Ooh,

Rosie Weatherley (20:00):

Yeah, yeah.

Lisa Sykes (20:01):

And it's from what you're saying, it doesn't sound like they're particularly time consuming activities. They're not something, there's something you can easily fit into your monthly schedule even if you are super busy. Yeah, exactly. And that's the point really, isn't it, that it's about taking time to do these

Rosie Weatherley (20:17):

Things. Yeah, they're designed to sort of take up as much or as little space as in that busy schedule as you have available. So you can really, really slow down, spend an afternoon doing something. If you don't have an afternoon, you only have 15 minutes, it's probably doable in that as well. And if that's all you have to give yourself that month, then fair play because life is hard.

Lisa Sykes (20:34):

Absolutely. Yeah. No, I think we have a thing in the magazine where we do a could do list as opposed to a to-do list. Yeah, I like that. And I think it's so important because it's all about taking the pressure off and we say these are some ideas we've had for could do things you could do this month or we'd leave a little space where people can add their own, but actually no pressure if you don't want to do it, that's absolutely fine. Yes. But how nice to think I could do this if I want to as opposed to todo. I

Rosie Weatherley (21:02):

Like that. Yeah, I like that a lot. Could do list. We have a saying, I work in the information team at mind and we talk a lot about different things work for different people at different times. So we often get called on could this be a good thing for your mental health? What about this, could we do this thing? And well different things work for different people at different times. What's worked for you once before really, really well, maybe completely ineffective this time around because absolutely every situation and person is

Lisa Sykes (21:26):

Unique. But as we're talking about curiosity, the whole point is it's about being open-minded, isn't it? And trying something new and it might be your new big hobby or it might just be a pleasant way to spend 20 minutes that is a been made your day a bit more relaxing and either's fine.

Rosie Weatherley (21:42):

Exactly. Either's fine. And either's good for you.

Lisa Sykes (21:45):

Absolutely. And I know you've had some really good feedback from the boxes. Are people finding them useful?

Rosie Weatherley (21:51):

So a lot of people use the pause boxes as kind of gifts for others. So if you know someone that's maybe going through a hard time or has been through something or trying to do a bit more around their own wellbeing, pause is a really nice way to show your support or your solidarity or that you're thinking of them. So lots of people feedback that they really like giving these boxes as gifts. Great. Which is so lovely because obviously that's quite an affordable gift and takes up a lot less global warming space than anything like plastic or anything like that.

Lisa Sykes (22:18):

Absolutely. And on a really practical note, I really like the fact it fits through your letterbox. Nothing worse than having something left outside in the rain and

Rosie Weatherley (22:28):

Well having to go to the delivery office and having another thing on your could do list.

Lisa Sykes (22:31):

Absolutely. Absolutely. So that's a small but important point I feel. Anyway. So you're giving a donation in order to receive this box. And how will that help minds work? I know it's probably not for a specific project, but what sort of things might it support?

Rosie Weatherley (22:47):

So it could support any part of mind, but I'll tell you a bit about the Corner of Minds work that I know best, which is the information. So

(22:54):

If you've ever been on the Mind website, which millions of people come onto our website every year, then you'll have seen that we've got quite a lot of information about different mental health problems. And alongside that, those pages of content, we also run lots of support services. So we have an online community that is available to anyone. It's free, it's available 24 hours a day every single day of the year. And that is kind of like a peer support space where you can talk about what's going on for you, give support, receive support, meet like-minded friends or people going through similar stuff. And people say that's really transformative and very powerful for them. So being able to run a community like that safely and with the right equipment and technology and moderation. And we try and run events on the online community as well, a lot of which are sort of creativity or kind of curiosity themed.

Lisa Sykes (23:42):

Absolutely. And so what's not to really Exactly, exactly. You're getting something to do that makes you feel better, that helps other people with mental health issues that need perhaps more help than you need, but actually you're helping to support that.

Rosie Weatherley (23:56):

Yeah. Well that's the idea.

Lisa Sykes (23:58):

Yeah. Well thank you very much for joining us, Rosie. And you can find out more at pause.org.uk/simple and the link will be in our description on the podcast as well. And hopefully you'll give it a go. Thanks very much. Pleasure.

Rosie Weatherley (24:10):

Take care.

Lisa Sykes (24:11):

So I'm definitely going to give that pause box a go. I like it that it's a surprise so you don't have a chance to say, oh, I'm not very good at that, and reject something before you've even tried it. We all tend to do that, don't we?

Becs Frank (24:22):

Yeah,

Lisa Sykes (24:23):

I know. And sometimes it turns out you're not very good at something.

Becs Frank (24:28):

Definitely.

Lisa Sykes (24:28):

But if you enjoy trying it, it doesn't matter. Do you remember when we went flower arranging?

Becs Frank (24:34):

Oh yeah.

Lisa Sykes (24:36):

So I'll just set the scene. So basically we were doing a read a day from the Simple Things at Yo Valley who have a lovely setting down there to do courses.

Becs Frank (24:45):

It was a lovely day.

Lisa Sykes (24:47):

Yeah, it was. And you go collect your flowers from the gardens foraging of a sort, and then you bring them back. And then this really expert flower arrange who was making a posing one hand showed us how to do it, didn't she? And there was a lady next to me who was an older lady, and I only mentioned that she was older because she was of that age where she really didn't care what she said. And she basically turned around to me and said, don't worry, I'm sure you are good at other things. And you were laughing so hard you couldn't stop. And yeah, no, and she was right. It's not my forte, but that's the thing about a course.

Becs Frank (25:22):

But you enjoyed it. I did. And actually it was fine. What happens is you watch people do it and it looks so easy, doesn't it? And then you start and it is obviously never going to be as easy. It's true. But you become absorbed in it. You become absorbed in this new kind of skill because it's not familiar to you.

Lisa Sykes (25:42):

Exactly.

Becs Frank (25:43):

And that's really fun about it. Yeah,

Lisa Sykes (25:45):

We love a course though. We, I mean I know our readers do and you've been on quite a few revenue. I do love a

Becs Frank (25:50):

Course. Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (25:52):

What did you go, was it fermenting? You went on recently?

Becs Frank (25:55):

Yes, I went on a fermenting course where we made kimchi, which was actually surprisingly easy. And it's a good hungry gap recipe as well. Obviously it uses cabbage and all you need is probably quite a few of the spices you've got in your cupboard already, maybe a couple of extras, Korean spices. And then you just need a bit of time really, but not that much, probably up to about two weeks. And this fermented cabbage just becomes this really tasty, like a chutney or a relish.

Lisa Sykes (26:23):

And you know what? It's really good for you, isn't it? Because it's absolutely packed with vitamin C. And I've got a good little fact about this because Captain Cook, who's explored the world,

Becs Frank (26:32):

Went

Lisa Sykes (26:32):

To Australia at a time when scurvy was a huge problem for sailors because they ran out of fresh food and then they all got ill and he basically took sauerkraut with him. Did he? Which effectively is a pickled cabbage, isn't it? And they realised that it was so packed with vitamin C that their sailors could go for longer sale further, which is why they were able to explore so many places. Oh wow. So there you go. Yeah,

Becs Frank (26:56):

That's a great story.

Lisa Sykes (26:58):

It's not quite Kim cheap, but it's very similar

Becs Frank (27:00):

And it's full of probiotics. That's what fermented food. So it's very good for the gut and I really like it and all sorts of things, but it's really good a bit like back to the rare bit again, but in a cheese toasty, it gives that really nice, it's a bit like having your pickle I guess, is that really nice flavour.

Lisa Sykes (27:15):

Yeah, we love cheese toasties. I like it with on a Monday, if I've done a roast on a Sunday, we often have bubble and squeak and it'd be really nice with that as well, wouldn't it?

Becs Frank (27:25):

Yeah, it is. So it's those kind of bland foods, it just gives a little bit of a kick to, and obviously you can use it with fried rice and noodles and soups and things like that. So that was a really useful course.

Lisa Sykes (27:36):

Yeah, one of the really good series we have in the mag is called Home Economics, and it's all about using your time and resource as well, not the sort of old home economics of fifties Housewives stood in a penny It, it's

Becs Frank (27:50):

One of my favourite features actually, because simple. But you wouldn't have necessarily thought of it yourself.

Lisa Sykes (27:56):

It's just very clever and

Becs Frank (27:58):

Really clever

Lisa Sykes (27:59):

And we have lots of recipes in there, but they're also little clever tips and advice as well, aren't they? And obviously we've done a lot of fermented things in that, so

Becs Frank (28:08):

Yeah. Well it's about making things last longer, isn't it?

Lisa Sykes (28:10):

And you went on another course, which for another series for the magazine, wasn't it? Which is how hard can it be where we send people to try things that are definitely outside of their comfort zone? And you went to make sourdough started, didn't you?

Becs Frank (28:22):

Making sourdough bread. So yeah, sorry. Yes. Yeah, no, I mean, because it is an art and I loved that. And we spent a whole day immersed in sourdough with Vanessa Kimball, who is such an inspiring guru on sourdough. And that is something I did carry on at home. And I go through phases of, I'm not in a sourdough baking phase at the moment, I must admit, but because you do need to devote quite a lot of time to it.

Lisa Sykes (28:43):

So have you got a sourdough starter or did you kill it off A lot of people

Becs Frank (28:49):

I think, I'm afraid I did kill off that one, but I had it for a long time and then I've had another one since. But it's nice, you can pass the starters around. So if you just need to find someone who's making sourdough and ask them to borrow one, or obviously you can start your own, but it's quite nice to use an established one. Well people give them names and all sorts,

Lisa Sykes (29:06):

They, it's like, they're like little pets.

Becs Frank (29:08):

Well yeah, you need to feed it every day.

Lisa Sykes (29:10):

That's what worries me. But I do make a loaf, I make a really nice loaf that is my tried and tested basic favourite white loaf that the whole family eats, but I don't make anything else and I really need to push and do something else.

Becs Frank (29:24):

That's why doing a course or just reading something or speaking to people can help you to just get, stretch you out of your comfort zone a little bit and try something new. You've been doing sewing though, haven't you?

Lisa Sykes (29:38):

Yeah, I have. I've been going to a sewing class two years now, and it's something I'm really proud of because I find it really hard. There are lots of people who are a lot better than me and learn quicker and it's a real challenge, but it's such a different sort of challenge from anything else in my life because, and it's not online, that's the other thing as well.

Becs Frank (29:58):

I bet when you are there in your sewing class, you're not thinking about work or anything else, are you?

Lisa Sykes (30:03):

It's two hours every Monday night that is now Ring fe sacrosanct sewing time. And I look forward to it and I make sure I always go.

Becs Frank (30:13):

Well you were wearing a very nice pair of trousers that you actually made yourself last time I saw you coots

Lisa Sykes (30:18):

Actually.

Becs Frank (30:20):

Yes.

Lisa Sykes (30:20):

Mustard cord, Roy Coots, mustard

Becs Frank (30:23):

OTs.

Lisa Sykes (30:23):

Yeah, yeah. But no, it's great. And I am getting better. I'm not perfect by any stretch. It's definitely not sewing be territory, but this is the thing we proudly homemade is another section in the mag that we have where we run a weekend project in every issue. And the idea is that you can literally have a go at it that weekend. So that's slightly different from going on a course, but I think we get such a satisfaction from learning something new, don't we?

Becs Frank (30:47):

Yeah. And the thought of something that you can do in a day or a weekend is great, isn't it? So absolutely. No, I think they're proudly homemade ideas are really good. I often try those. I've been trying to learn a bit more about Birdsong recently. Oh, have you?

Speaker 3 (31:00):

Yes.

Becs Frank (31:01):

And that's something, I haven't been on a course, I'm just doing it myself. I've got an app and I listened to Birdsong on YouTube. In fact the other day I was listening to Birdsong on YouTube and my puppy had been going crazy, having the Zoomies where she runs between two rooms, going absolutely crazy. And I put this bird song on and she just sort of laid down and listened to it. So I had it on for quite a while and we actually really needed to get on with some work, but I was really enjoying the piece and the bird song. So that just shows how calming bird song is, isn't it?

Lisa Sykes (31:30):

I think picking something to learn more about is a really good starting point, isn't it? So I am from Huddersfield and I haven't lived there since I was 18, went away to go to university, but all my family's still there and I kind of think I know it. But I bought this book when I was up there last time, an old book. It's from the sixties, so it's a bit old fashioned, but it's a history of Huddersfield.

Becs Frank (31:53):

Oh wow.

Lisa Sykes (31:53):

And I'm just reading it

Becs Frank (31:56):

And

Lisa Sykes (31:56):

It's great because you do know enough about it to really get the way they're talking about and what happened, but I'm learning so much more about my hometown and it's just really interesting. And the other thing I'm reading upon as well, I do like a bit of research reading.

(32:10):

I spend a lot of time at a cottage in the Dales and it's surrounded by Bo and Muah and it's not a habitat I know very much about. So I'm learning all about the wildlife and the history and the ecology of pea bogs. Oh really? Which perhaps not for everyone, but I think that'd be a great thing to read while you're there. And that's the thing, isn't it? When you go to somewhere new or somewhere you dunno very much about. It's great to learn a bit more about it, isn't it? Yeah. I suppose it's like learning a bit of language when you go abroad.

Becs Frank (32:39):

Yeah. I think as an adult you really want to do that, don't you? Yeah. Whereas when you were a child growing up somewhere, you probably have zero interest in the history of where you're

Lisa Sykes (32:46):

Growing up. Absolutely.

Becs Frank (32:48):

Yeah. So that's a great idea too. Maybe I should pick up a book about Sheffield. That's where I'm

Lisa Sykes (32:53):

From. Yeah, of course. There'd be, oh, there'll be fascinating history there.

Becs Frank (32:56):

Yeah, yeah.

Lisa Sykes (32:58):

But being inspired by experts. I think that's the thing. When you go on a course for a day or you sit at the feet of an expert, I mean, I'm not an expert, I'm a dabbler, but I always want to be that person. Yeah, me too. Because they're just so full of passion and knowledge, aren't they about what they're talking about. And if that can't inspire your curiosity, what can really,

Becs Frank (33:19):

It really does, doesn't it? Yeah. And I think that is their gift. They're not only their passion, but then they love to and are so skilled at sharing that with other people. And for those few hours that you are in the company of that person you are, you become in their world, don't you? Well you become almost like a child, don't you,

Lisa Sykes (33:37):

Where you ask loads more questions than you normally would and you want to suck up their knowledge, don't you?

Becs Frank (33:42):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (33:42):

Because you'd like a sponge. Yeah,

Becs Frank (33:44):

Yeah, I know. Exactly.

Lisa Sykes (33:45):

And also the rest of your life aside for the day when you're on that course. But I can't imagine being an expert, being that in love with one thing that I want to do it all the time and tell people about it.

Becs Frank (33:57):

Yeah.

Lisa Sykes (33:58):

Do you think certain people are more like that than others?

Becs Frank (34:00):

I dunno. I think some people are very lucky to be working with their passions.

Lisa Sykes (34:04):

Yes. No, I mean we've got quite creative jobs. We do. Yeah. We are very lucky. But I guess if job's less creative, you have an outlook, everybody has that creativity in them it it has to come out somewhere.

Becs Frank (34:18):

And I think pushing yourself out of your comfort zone a little bit and perhaps doing some things that we all have our things that we kind of lean towards.

Speaker 3 (34:25):

Yes.

Becs Frank (34:26):

Like we've talked about food, you can probably tell how much we've talked about food that's passionate about, but just writing the book, I was just talking about nature really kind of. Although I am passionate and enthusiastic and love being in nature, really immersing myself in that for a few months while I was writing the book, I became an expert and that was really enjoyable. But talking about curiosity again, I actually just researched a piece that we've got coming out in our April issue. I think it's on sale now, about how to be more curious and why being more curious helps to open your mind and thinking about things like polarisation and people being differences and people arguing and falling out with friends and families about differences of opinions. But it helps to be curious

Lisa Sykes (35:07):

And it's got more so hasn't it? I

Becs Frank (35:08):

Think

Lisa Sykes (35:09):

That's a very common thing at the moment,

Becs Frank (35:12):

But if we can be a bit more curious about other people rather than just disregarding them because they don't think the same as you, then it helps to bridge that difference. And it was really interesting to look into that. And just even on an everyday level, just asking more questions, going beyond the how are you, small talk helps you to understand people better and learn more, I guess.

Lisa Sykes (35:33):

No, definitely. Although I don't think you and I have had any trouble ever going beyond the small talk.

Becs Frank (35:37):

No.

Lisa Sykes (35:40):

So just thinking about it though, all this about curiosity, now is the time, isn't it? It's spring, you've got more energy, there's more daytime, the weather's improved. It's like what are we waiting for? So that is going to be my intention. In fact, I know what I'm going to do. I want to mend more clothes and I want to learn more about dining, invisible mending. And I've got this idea that I'll be sat there in a sunny day in the garden with my sewing

Becs Frank (36:05):

In the garden. Yeah. On your laps.

Lisa Sykes (36:07):

Yes. Yeah. I love that with it. Maybe a little drink at my side or just to chilling, but learning something. Bird song in the background. Exactly. I can see it now. So thanks very much for joining us to you, Bex, and for your knowledge as always.

Becs Frank (36:23):

Thank you.

Lisa Sykes (36:24):

And also thank you to pause the subscription box from mind for supporting this season. You can find more about donating to the charity to receive it@pauseformind.org uk slash simple. And the link is also on the app. And if you're not a reader of the simple things, we've mentioned the magazine quite a lot. Hopefully that's inspired. You can subscribe to the Simple Things through our website. I'll going to be back next week with more Spring pick me up ideas in our relish episode in which we're going to be seizing the moment and getting outdoors. Thanks very much for listening. Bye.