Dawn - Episode 6 - RISE 'N' SHINE

Join editor of The Simple Things Lisa Sykes and wellbeing editor Rebecca Frank as they embark on a dawn walk, discuss what they like to cook and eat over Easter and ways to maintain balance at this pivotal point of the year.

If you are in the UK, you can try an immediate start subscription to the The Simple Things and receive the current issue straight away. Or buy current and back issues here

Thanks to our partner for Season 9, Friends of Glass, an organisation that celebrates and supports glass packaging for food, drink and cosmetics. Find out more about why glass is better for health, taste and the environment and follow them on instagram @friendsofglassuk

Editing & music by Arthur Cosslett. 

On the blog

Easter feasting

Eggs en cocotte

Brioche hot cross buns

Rabbit biscuits

Austrian easter cakes Gugelhuph

Italian Easter Pie Torta Pasqualina

Hen keeping fact sheet 

What plants to plant in your garden for hens

In the March issue (165) available to buy here

Looking back: the history of the public clock

In the April issue (166) available to order here

Spring tartiflette

That’s all yolks! From pheasant egg Yorkshire puds to easter egg tiramisu

Left field farms –  where to try willow weaving, goat yoga and llama trekking

Small treasures – mini plants for spring and summer colour

The Big Idea – Lucky People by Nobuko Nakano

The wonder of whimsy 

Flourish (Volume four) our latest wellbeing bookazine available to buy here

Homebird  – our new bookazine about making the most of where you live. Available to order here 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hi, welcome to the last episode of this dawn season of Small Ways to Live Well. It's the podcast from the Simple Things magazine. I'm Lisa Sykes, the editor, and today my co-host is our well-being editor, Rebecca Frank, and we're calling this one Rise and Shine. We're finding some things to get up and go, but we're also looking for some balance at this pivot point of the year. So thinking about things we love to eat at Easter, because that's coming soon, and looking forward to the clocks going forward. And this season, as regular listeners will know, has been supported by our friends at Friends of Glass, which is the organization that celebrates and promotes the use of glass packaging for food, drink, and cosmetics. And I'm sure we've all got products in our kitchen or bathroom that comes in glass jars or bottles. And maybe we're consciously choosing glass more in a quest to use less plastic. Glass can be recycled an infinite number of times and it's inert, so it keeps things better, things taste better in it. And you can find out more on their Instagram, Friends of Glass UK. And if you search for Glass Champions Online, you're gonna you'll also find examples of many brands who are using glass at friendsofglass.com. So, Bex, hello. Hello, how are you feeling this spring day? I'm feeling good, thanks.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

It's nice to be back. Had a little break, and um my energy levels are definitely increasing. Things are starting to get busier again. Yeah, which is great. I think, but I do think I need to remind myself to take a pause as well, which we're gonna be talking about, aren't we, in this episode?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

We are because that you know, I think balance is almost the theme of this episode, really, isn't it? Because that's the thing, it's the spring equinox, and we've been talking about this, haven't we? And and it, you know, one of two points in the Earth's site natural cycle when the sun passes directly over the equator. So all over the world, day and night are roughly the same length, aren't they? Yeah, it's amazing to think that. It's quite a universal experience, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

It's quite humbling, isn't it? Think of us all as one on this on this planet, kind of experiencing the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Yeah, no, so I think that's you know, just a little food for thought for today. But also it's the start of astronomical spring, isn't it? Um, which determines the date of Easter. Yes, that's right. Uh what is it, the Sunday after the first full moon following the equinox? Bit of a mouthful. Well, it's early, isn't it, this year?

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Yeah. Easter's early. So um, we're looking forward to that. And the first of the kind of lovely bank holiday weekends. I mean, what's not to love about that?

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Yeah. And you know, and it's from here on, there's more daytime than nighttime, which I think is a very pleasing thought, isn't it? And everything's rushing out of hibernation, sunlight's gaining strength, we're ditching winter coats. I had my lunch outside this very day, actually. I was quite nice. Did you done that a few times now? Just what a treat. Yeah, and it's it's just when it when you get a little sunny sheltered spot and you can sneak outside and it really, I don't know, it gives you a whole new uplift, doesn't it? It does.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

It's often like warmer out than in at this at this time, isn't it? But it's interesting actually, because obviously we know that kind of the you know the more daylight tends to kind of boost our mood. But this equ this time where we get the sort of equal amounts of light and dark is supposed to be sort of well suited to to the balancing of our circadian rhythm, which you know is our sort of sleep-wake cycle. And that makes sense, doesn't it? It I don't know about you, but it it feels I it feels like the kind of right, I feel like my my routine is quite in quite a good place at the moment when I'm waking and when I'm feeling tired, it feels quite balanced. And there's a reason for that.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

I was gonna say, I think equilibrium is the word that comes to mind because in the winter you do feel more tired, don't you? And right now I feel like things are possible. You know, you've got more energy and just more intention, really, haven't you? You know, you're not you're not wanting to hibernate anymore.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

Yeah, and obviously there are lots of well-being benefits that we know about associated with increasing light, and we'll talk about this again a bit a bit later when we're talking about sort of early rising, but increased serotonin is one of them, and which we know is the is the happy hormone, and improved cognitive function. So we should be kind of uh firing on all cylinders, really.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

You know, I I I was thinking about this the other day, and I reckon we've mentioned serotonin in so many episodes. No, in a good way though, because you know, it really is the key, isn't it? If you can things you can do to increase your serotonin levels just make you feel happy. Yeah. It's worth remembering. So Easter's coming soon. The pagan mythology behind Easter, very interesting. You've been looking into this a bit, haven't you?

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Yeah, so the goddess associated, according to this pagan and the pagan mythology, the goddess associated with spring is Estra or Ostra, um, or Ostara, and um that's where the word Easter comes from, um, which makes sense, doesn't it? Yeah, that's not hard to believe, is it? No, exactly. And interestingly, that's then so so she's associated with the hare, the symbol of fertility and abundance, new life, which is what this kind of time of year sort of feels all about, doesn't it? And also with eggs, because uh apparently, according to myth, our stara had a favourite bird that transformed into an egg-laying hare, and then over time this has become, I guess, the Easter bunny, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yes, that makes sense, yeah. Yeah, it does. And this so the giving the painting and giving of eggs actually predates Christianity, doesn't it? So yes, that's very interesting, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 5:42

She's also associated with the birch tree, which you'll know is the first to come into leaf in the spring, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 5:48

I love birch leaves, they're just such an acidicy sort of limey green, aren't they? Yeah, they are, they almost shine. Yeah, no, they're they're a really uplifting thing. So one uh I think one of my favourite ever series we ran in The Simple Things, and you'll remember this specs because you've been here as practically as long as I have, was The Seed to Stove, where our contributor Leah Lin Leonde, who of course went on to edit the hugely popular almanacs, which probably some listeners have uh read, and uh they explored the circle of the year with and she did some quiet celebrations and cooking with foods associated with the ancient festivals, and of course she did Ostara. I don't even know Ostara, I think you say it like that, don't you? Yeah, yeah. I know we've got an egg recipe of hers on the blog, which I always really liked. It's eggs on cocotte with sorrel. So she's using the very first herbs, you know, when you just get those green tips if you've got herbs in pots and they're coming back to life, and she uses those with sorrel, and you can forage for sorrel now.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

It's uh it's it's out now, yeah. It's got it's kind of got a nice, kind of quite sharp lemony flavour. No, I really like it. Yeah, you have like field sorrel or common sorrel, I think, and then wood sorrel. That was I mean it's essentially just like baked eggs, isn't it? Yeah, and I I love that it's so simple but kind of special.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Although I like the baked eggs recipe we've got coming up in April because it's no surprise. This is a feature we do we've done on eggs, haven't we? And yes, that there's Yorkshire puddings filled with pheasant eggs, and they've got cream in and spinach as well. And I I mean it's basically a baked egg, but using the Yorkshire pudding as a dish, isn't it? Love it. I am so gonna try that. I know what a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Yeah, I haven't tried it yet, but and I'm not quite sure where whether I'd be able to lay my hands on a pheasant egg, but obviously you can use any egg.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Have you ever seen a pheasant egg, by the way? I don't know if I have actually, no. We had one nesting in the garden, and it was basically like a greyish green, really unusual colour, beautiful colour. Like it could be a farrow and ball colour, you know, this egg. It's it's just that. Yes, yeah, yeah. What kind of size? Well, they're oh, they're quite big, because you know, pheasant are quite big, so yeah. I mean, not far off a hen's egg size, really. Yeah. In fact, probably about the same. But they lay quite a lot, you know. There was like maybe a dozen eggs in this nest, and it had taken shelter by this wall and was well hidden in the the plants there, but there was a weasel living in the wall, or possibly a stoat actually, because I had a black tip on its tail. And actually, one day they all the eggs had got wrecked, so it didn't it they didn't survive. Yeah. Oh no. Yeah, I could have had my own pheasant's eggs. Yes, there you go. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, there were some other things in there as well, weren't there?

SPEAKER_02 8:34

There are. There was Scotch eggs made with duck eggs and also duck sausages, if you can, again, if you can get them, um you know, you'll be able to get them for a few different. And I think that recipe is actually going to come be on the blog. Look out for that, sort of probably more towards sort of early April. Um, and then obviously some really nice, you can't not have chocolate eggs, can you? So sweet, sweet ideas like a tirimezu made in a halved chocolate eggshell. So you basically a hollow Easter egg. You see, that sounds a bit too sweet for me. Yes, it would be, it would be. And then then this one, maybe even more so, because um homemade cream eggs with shortbred soldiers. How cute.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

I mean, kids would love that, wouldn't they? The picture of that was great because you had to do a double take to spot that it wasn't boiled eggs and toasty soldiers, didn't you? You to realise it's very clever.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

I know, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I do find actual cream eggs too sweet, but I think this looks great. And you just need to hollow Easter eggs if anyone's got any lying around after Easter.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Yeah, right. But you know, it was only a year ago. We were sat there eating Symanal Cake in that shepherd's hut, recording our Easter special podcast, weren't we?

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Can't believe that was a year ago already.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

I know, it's gone very quickly, and actually you can still listen to that podcast, you can still download it, so it's good, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yeah, and you brought along a Seminole cake, I think, and we had some hot crossbands, and we were just kind of enjoying and celebrating all the different bakes of Easter, weren't we? But I think, you know, and we've got so many, we've featured so many different breads and cakes and things associated with Easter all around the world, haven't we? And there's quite a few examples on the blog. Um, we've got another one actually in our April issue, which is called Kulic or Kullich, I'm not sure how to say it, but it's a Slavic Orthodox Easter bread. And it's kind of like a mix between panettoni and brioche. It looks absolutely delicious, and with a sort of white icing on the top, like a kind of ice bun, something looks, it looks fantastic. Lovely.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

We've got brioche hot cross buns on the blog as well. So we'll we'll, by the way, I should have said we'll add links in the show notes to all of these. I always I I do like a biscuit, like little sweet, short bready type biscuits at Easter. And we've got those cute rabbit ones, do you remember, also on the vlog?

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Yes, and much easier, very easy to make those, and be a great thing to do with if you've got any any kids coming over, or you know, you're cooking for family over Easter. They've got little currents in them and they're they're very cute.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Nice. What do you like to cook at Easter then? Because I know you're a big fan of Easter, aren't you? Because what do you what's it you say? It's like Christmas without the stress. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

Well, I just think because we get everybody all together and you've got the the bank holidays and we cook and share food, but um, yeah, you don't have that sort of lengthy build-up and lots of presents to buy. No. I tend to cook kind of like a roast, really, but I'll do some sort of make it a bit more special, a few more variations, but also make it a bit lighter for spring. So I might do I I quite often do a chicken actually, but I might I might actually poach it or cook it in liquid with some um with a grain is always really nice, I think. No, just a sort of slightly fresher way of of serving it.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

That's so funny you say that because I I've just recently we we were recycling a load of the old issues in the office, and I I inevitably started flicking through them and I've started pulling out recipes that I thought, oh, I'll keep these. And one was a poached chicken, and it was with a kale and mushroom broth with barley in. So, like you say, I grew in. Um, April issue 130. So we'll put the link to it on the show notes. But yeah, no, I like that. It's funny though, because I do want to start eating more lightly. We had beef short ribs this week. Oh, nice, which I do really like, but and I love them, but they felt too heavy. They felt yeah, I felt like we should have had them a month ago, and the temperature had gone up a few degrees, and I I just didn't enjoy them as much as I would on a winter's day, you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

It's so funny, isn't it? It really affects what you what you feel like eating or just what feels right to eat. Cheese. Cheese and dairy. Yeah, cheese.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Cheese and dairy is is about now. Let's talk about cheese. Oh, we've done so many good cheese recipes. Uh the you know, there's a chard and cheese lasagna that I remember from our veg patch pantry series, and cheese and onion tarts.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

There's a tarte flat actually in our in our April issue, which is cheese. This is what I think you need. You need cheese, potatoes, and then some kind of green. And this one has spring onions in it, and you know, but also, like you said, nice with chard or kale or anything. I mean, basically, it's just a yummy, cheesy, buttery kind of you know, delicious plate.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

I think if I had to choose two foods, cheese and potatoes would probably be them. So I that's definitely one for me. But I do like I like it when we try something a bit different. And do you remember that Italian Easter pie we featured? And this is also on the blog, a torta pascalina, and it's a really old recipe. That had spinach in it, yes, and uh ricotta spinach and eggs, of course. But um, it's it's from Liguria and it comes from the 1500s and they've been making it in the same way ever since. It's very cool. I like it.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

I might try something like that actually for a change. Because I think that everyone would really like that in my house.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

I know, and and and I like that I like a food that's got a talking point, you know what I mean? Where you can kind of talk about its history or yeah, no, exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

But it's that I I like Easter weekend as well, because we always kind of have like uh some sort of little day trips or not not don't maybe not even far because I don't want to be sitting on the motorway. You know, just go somewhere we wouldn't normally like, like go to a different sort of National Trust property or Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Or about a farm. A farm would be great, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yeah. Yes, a farm, a farm. What a good idea. And we we've got an outing feature, haven't we, on farm days out and not just not just farm for kids' days out either. There's lots of ideas on there, aren't there?

SPEAKER_00 14:41

No, it's not just about petting lambs, is it? I think I think what's really interesting is I've never visited a farm where I haven't come away and learnt something. Yes, no, you know, quite. Yeah. Even if you think you know a little bit about the countryside, that you you know, unless you're a farmer, you don't really know about farming. And so actually, when farms open themselves up, and I I can't, isn't open farm Sunday coming up? It's it's in spring, isn't it? I think I I I know we've got it in the piece, I think it's in May actually, but they do these, you know, when they have visitors, dis uh display boards and information and people talking to you, you just learn a lot, don't you?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah, I remember so much we used to go to Chatsworth Farm because I grew up in just in Sheffield, and we used to go to Chatsworth Farm all the you know, often, you know, as a regular outing. But I yeah, I really remember learning quite a lot about just about about dairy farming, about you know, it wasn't just and I really obviously enjoyed all the petting, but I you know I have strong memories of being quite affected by what I learned and saw there, and yeah, yeah, you know, made me really and and certainly I remember going on a trip to Yo Valley farm down here in Somerset and you know making me think very carefully about the the provenance of the of the meat and the dairy and the animal products that I that I get. Definitely, you know me. I I I love animals, so um I've done alpaca trekking. Have you?

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Yes, which is lovely. Well, I don't like alpacas very much. Sorry, alpaca feebles. I I find them just a bit odd looking, and also that they kind of they feel too exotic here. I think if I saw them in the mountains in South America, it'd be fine.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Yeah, I think they're friendlier than llamas. Um, but yes, I I take your point. Yeah, yeah, no. And what about micro pigs then?

SPEAKER_00 16:29

They're just they're like a sort of made-up species, aren't they?

SPEAKER_02 16:33

You can't say you wouldn't like to play with a micro pig.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

They are really cute, but they're so tiny.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

But but I do love a donkey. I love a donkey, and there's two live near me, and and I just always smile when I walk past them because that I don't know, I just I like I if I if I could have an animal at home, you know, apart from a dog, obviously, um, it would be a donkey, yeah. Or a goat.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

I'd like quite like a goat.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Oh, I do like a goat. Although I I did read in our piece about goat yoga. What's that? That should be. I think I should have tried this, being the well-being editor.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

I think you should, yeah. We'll send you legs. And I'm I'm a bit sad that I haven't. I think I've probably come close with right trying to do yoga with with two dogs in the room. Because basically, what happens in goat yoga is I think they they just kind of come and climb on top of you. Do they just mill around? Yeah. And mill around and then get in the way, and but because goats like to climb, don't they? So I think if you get into tabletop position, they think, oh, this this looks fun, I'll do that. And then come and I've seen there's lots of pictures of them, you know, standing on people's backs when they're trying to do a downward.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Well, you know, we like to go somewhere for our podcast planning sessions. Maybe, maybe goat yoga is the answer.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

We'll report back if we get there. Other things, you know, things like crafts and fruit picking, but also flower picking and veg picking, you know, other good things to do down the farm.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

But also, you know, the the the best way to support farms, of course, is buying their produce, isn't it? And there was a we've got a little box in this piece about letterbox farming. And it I never I don't think to buy stuff mail order from a farm shop, but so many farm shops do it. Maybe not their whole range of produce, but certainly some of their specialties. So that's one of the things I am going to do this spring. And there are vending machines as well. Oh, yes, they're great. Ice cream and milk, like you say, and yogurts. And I love it when I stumble across one. Yes. And then I always double back and go and get myself an ice cream because I think they're such a great idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You find them in villages and things, don't you? Yeah, great. And I, you know, and actually just before because I remember I saw this on the blog when we were looking some other things up, but we've been talking eggs. And if you fancy keeping hens, which I did for a long time, my dog and hens don't really mix now, so I don't keep them anymore. But but we've got some hen keeping fact sheets on our blog, and I'll put links to those. But also, interestingly, what plants to plant in your garden for hens? Both ones that hens like, but also ones that hens don't dig up. So um, there's some good advice on that. So we've run away with ourselves backs. We are ready for our story. Yes. Our read aloud story, which for anyone who doesn't listen regularly, we do every episode, don't we? And we pick a story because we commission an original one in every issue of the magazine. And this one is a story about someone who is just understanding how to rise and shine again now that spring is here. Lara has gone to the park every Saturday morning, rain or shine, since she moved to the northeast last November. She's now on first name terms with several dogs, and the man at the coffee cart knows that she likes a cappuccino with no chocolate on top. The walk takes the sharpest edge of loneliness off her weekend. She needs it today. It's the anniversary of her father's death, and the call from her mother before breakfast to check that she was okay, ended with them both sobbing as they remembered how suddenly he was gone, crumpling on the spot. But I've hardly touched that tea expression on his face. She takes the quieter route through the park, then follows the dusty path up the hill. Grief, which is mostly just a thrum now, rises up in a vicious ambush. At the top of the slope, Lara crosses the road and goes into the churchyard. She hasn't walked this far before. Her little terraced house is at the lower edge of the town. A curved path wanders through the graves. She walks slowly, reading the names on the old headstones Elijah, Agatha, Agatha, Silas, Dorcas. Oh, she's tired. Grieving is tiring, yes, but so is living somewhere new. The endless effort of finding everything out from scratch, of trying to make friends with people who are kind, but having no friends of their own. A movement snags at Lara's gaze. It's a ribbon attached to the railings around a monument, moving in the April breeze. Oh, but she's tired of the cold and the wind. She moves closer. There must be a dozen ribbons on these railings, all purple, white, or green. Some hold the remains of flowers, some are tied tightly in bows. This place is important. The reason taps at Lara's memory. Before she can read the words on the gravestone, a voice says quietly behind her It's Emily Wilding Davison. Her family lived here. She was killed by the king's horse. Of course, Lara nods. The colours make sense now. They were used by the suffragette movement in their campaign for vote for women. I'm sorry, but the woman looks at Lara. I saw you earlier in the park, and you looked upset. We were coming this way anyway, so we followed you up. There's a snuffling from below, and Lara said She sees Morgan the Dashhand, making an assault on her shoelaces. She bends and rubs in behind the ear, but when she stands up again, she finds to her surprise that she's smiling a real smile. It's a sad day, that's all. I'm Lara. Claire replies with a friendly face. She's holding a bunch of purple and white friezures, their stems wrapped in foil. She starts to tie the posy to the railings with a piece of yellow ribbon. I do this every year when the friezures in my greenhouse start to come out, she says. Here, let me take something, Lara offers. She assumes that Claire will hand over a basket, but instead it's Morgan's lead that she finds herself holding. She smiles down at him, and he looks back up at her, cocking his head to one side before going back to her shoelaces. Claire steps back. She and Lara stand side by side and look at the railings and the monument, the name carved into the stone. After a moment they turn and walk back towards the gate. Lara is still holding Morgan's lead. Crocuses are blooming, green, purple, and white from the shelter at the base of an old oak. Claire nods towards them. Spring always comes, she says. It really is. And I think it's those spring bulbs, isn't it? And I'm quite pleased this year actually because I did a really nice thing for my mum and my mother-in-law for Christmas, and I planted a bulb lasagna. Do you know what they are?

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Oh yes, yeah, yeah. Layers of bulbs come up at different times.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Yeah, and has it worked? Well, my mother-in-law reported leafily a while back that she'd seen her first crocus. I don't know what my mum's done with hers, but she hasn't reported on it at all yet. So maybe she's like, maybe she doesn't like the pot or something. Who knows? But but I'm hoping that she's going to say, Oh, look, the tulips are on the way. Maybe it's not, maybe nothing's come up, please. I know. I'm hoping they're all right. On the top, I did crocus, and then I did daffodils, and then I did tulips. So that the idea is that as one fades, the next one comes through. So and you know they're really easy. Yeah, such a good idea. Yeah. So you could do another one. I'm thinking I could do a summer one because I don't know about you, but I never really think to plant summer bulbs.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

No, me neither. I I I don't, but actually, we've done a gardening feature in our April issue, which did kind of inspire me about this because we're I'm constantly my garden looks beautiful in the spring, and I I do diligently plant um bulbs every autumn. And we just seem to have got some, you know, really nice kind of flowering shrubs as well. But then in in summer it just it it all kind of goes, it loses all its colour. Yeah. So I was thinking um in this feature it's sort of talking about summer bulbs, but also just an idea of putting things into little pots and not having everything in the beds and having all these kind of little tiny plants that get a bit lost in the beds, in pots, because we've all got hundreds of pots, haven't we? Kind of, you know, lying around and making use of them and and doing things, you know, being a little bit more kind of flamboyant with them. She sort of talks about it like a little, yeah, like it's your theatre of uh display of flowers, and it's it's quite it's sounds quite fun.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

It's a good idea though, isn't it? You know, things like specimen flowers, you know, like like the ones that you always see bloggers Instagramming, you know, the Rinoculus and um cosmos and you know, things that look gorgeous, and and obviously you can plant those now for summer, but if like you say, if you do them in a pot, they don't get overgrown with weeds in my case, or you know, other plants in your flower beds. Yeah, I like it. It's a good idea. You can put them on tables and windowsills. I like plants on tables in the garden, actually.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Yeah, exactly. So you're just saying about raising things to eye level and just thinking about um actually when I was out walking today, there was someone who'd got this lovely kind of just a wall-mounted kind of pot of of tiny little narcissists. It looks so pretty. And I just thought that would have I'd have kind of missed it if it was down on the ground, really. And just because it was at eye level, it really caught it really caught my eye. And she said, you know, just go go for it and have some mad frilly pansies or orange and purple snapdragons and thing. So I think I might uh have a go at that.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

You just got to stop doing things because that's what you always do, haven't you, in the garden? You've got to sort of try something a bit different. Yeah, exactly. Because even putting stuff from the garden in a jam jar or a glass jar on your table, but outside on your table is really nice, isn't it? Oh, yes, I I often do that.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Yeah. Yeah, it really kind of just helps with the with the table, doesn't it? If you're having you know lunch outside, all you you know, quick kind of potter down the garden, cut a few things and put them in a nice glass vase on the table, and it looks lovely.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Actually, the plant I keep forgetting at the moment is I am the caretaker of my daughter's terrarium. Now she's at uni.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Oh, how's that going? They don't they need a lot of care. No, that's the whole point.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

They're not supposed to need any, but I think you've got to check on them occasionally to make sure they're not either too wet or too dry, you know, just to kind of but they they are a beautiful thing, and and whenever I go in her room and I see it, I think, oh my, it's just like thriving, actually. In fact, I'm not sure what you do if they get too overgrown because presumably you have to prune them in some way. But so has she got succulents and things in there? Well, well, I suppose they are succulents, yeah, because sometimes people put cacti in them, and obviously they're not they're not as great in there because they need a really dry environment, and the whole point of a closed one is it generates its own moisture. So but yeah, no, it's doing all right. But of course, this leads us nicely onto glass to talk about our friends of glass, our sponsor for this season. Yes. I found this really interesting fact about it on their website because obviously your terrarium's all about clear glass because you want it to absorb sunlight, but actually, sensitive products like beer or oils or medicines, they use amber and green and blue bottles because it doesn't absorb the sunlight and it protects it from degradation, which is interesting because I've got moisturisers. I hadn't really thought about that, yeah. But I've got moisturiser from Valida and Neil's Yard, and they're both in coloured glass, all in dark glass. Yeah, and it's got so it's quite interesting. Me too. Yeah, my refills are dark glass as well. Yes, exactly. And so those brands are in, you know, they're two of the glass champions that we've got in our April machine, which are brands that are choosing glass packaging. There's more about that on Friends of Glass UK. I just sorry, I forgot to mention with the terrarium because the project we've got a project to make a terrarium in our new homebird bookazine, which um, as you know, Bex, I've been working on. And this is a new bookazine, brand new, with a collection of homes and gardens features from older issues of the simple things that we've kind of redesigned and updated. And it's all about making the most of where you live, and that's coming out at the end of March. So we'll put links to that. It's looking good. I'm I'm very pleased with it. It's exciting doing something new. But yes, what else should we talk about? Clocks, because the clocks go forward finally next week.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

I know this is a big moment, isn't it? So we had the equinox, and then the next kind of thing is the clocks going forward, which inspired us to do this a looking back feature, actually, in our March issue, um, the peak issue. And it's all about, you know, we we sort of really kind of dive into the history in these features, don't we? And this time of public clocks. I mean, we've all got kind of clocks that have meant something to us in our lives, everywhere. Whether it's places you used to meet people, we always used to, you know, this or the station clocks. And did you did you have somewhere?

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Yeah, I don't know about you, but I used to know where all the clocks were in my hometown because obviously we didn't have phones then. And you know, I didn't always wear a watch when I was a teenager, you know, if you didn't go with my outfit or whatever. And so I knew there was one at the jewelers, I knew there was a clock tower, there was the church, there was the the newspaper office had a clock. And so you could keep tabs if you were, you know, wherever you were. And now I just think, would I know where any clocks are? And are there any existing?

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Yeah. There just aren't really so many many at all. I sometimes find myself looking for one and and can't find them. Yeah. But I mean, obviously you've got them on the uh the churches and cathedrals, and two of the oldest ones are actually not far from me. Salisbury Cathedral is the oldest surviving clock dating from around 1386. So you know that is pretty old, yeah. Uh in Wells, the Wells Cathedral clock. And both of these early clocks, you know, originally would have only kept the hour. They wouldn't have had they wouldn't have had a minute hand, which I quite like. You know, oh it's around it's kind of between two and three, you know. We don't need to know any more than that, really.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

So that would be great to adopt again, wouldn't it? And just say, oh yeah, within the hour. Yeah.

unknown 30:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

I've seen the one in Wells Cathedral, though, and it is very beautiful, really worth seen if you're in Wells, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Yeah. And then we've got modern examples, you know, like Paddington Station, which you know, I I pass through a lot, which is designed by an artist called Martin Barthes. And I think there's also one in Amsterdam, and it he's there's a shadowy figure on the clock face that appears to kind of erase and write the time. So they're fascinating, and then something to really just stop and and and take a look at. I don't think I've ever seen that in Paddington. Yeah. Yeah, I might have to have a look. Yeah, well, that you see, you just don't notice these things with you. It's so easy to not to look up, I think. But there's a new one, isn't there, at London Bridge. There is a new one, yeah. That's what I was just about to say. Yeah, there's a new British Rail digital clock that's going to be rolled out across the country. And the first one was in as installed in London Bridge in October last year. And it's a digital clock, so I don't know how you feel about that. But it it's like the old British Rail logo. It's kind of been designed to kind of to look like that, that circular kind of logo, and with minutes and but not a second hand. So people are saying, well, actually, don't you need that really when you're kind of you know, maybe running for a train or needing to know whether you've got enough time to get that next train? Yeah, the whole, you know, 30 seconds before departure, they close the doors, don't they? So completely, exactly. Actually, it does. There's circles kind of around the outside of the digital display that move and they that close up as they as you get closer to the Oh, so it counts the 60 seconds, yeah. Yeah, counts the 60 seconds, yeah. Interesting. And one other funny fact the the clock in the Balmole Hotel in Edinburgh is still set three minutes fast, so guests don't miss their train.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

That's brilliant. That's such a clever idea, isn't it? I've got an old watch that I don't wear all the time, but it I wind that and I do set that early because um it sometimes loses a bit of time. But don't you know that? So it doesn't really work. Yeah, I sort of do, but I the worst is the one in my car because I can't remember which time when it's when it goes to summertime or when when it goes to winter time. No, I I can only change it one direction easily, and I've forgotten, and and so actually it stays on the wrong time for half the year, basically. So Yeah, and then you forget what yeah. That's always a bit disconcerting, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

We've all got that, or the uh the oven clock that doesn't get doesn't ever get changed.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Yeah. Yes, but never gets changed. I know it's it's like it can't be that hard, really, can it? Yeah, so we set ourselves a little challenge that was time related, didn't we? Are you going to explain what we did? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Yes, we did. And it was kind of to tie in with the thought of the of the clocks changing, although actually the light we do lose a bit of morning light for a while when the clocks go forward, of course. But this challenge was and it's a walking challenge. And with numbers again, as we we like these number challenges, everybody does. It kind of went viral. It's been sort of bubbling around for a few months now, but I didn't really fancy it in the winter months because it involves getting up at 6 a.m. and doing a 60-minute walk. So it's 6-6-6 challenge, and there's lots of sixes because you could do a six-minute, they recommend a six-minute warm-up and a six-minute cool down, a sixty-minute walk, and ideally do it at six a. Obviously, there's some flex in that, and it could even be six pm because if you can't do a morning, you could hopefully at this time of year get out and do a six pm.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

I just want to point out that she didn't really emphasize that you could do it at six pm when we set this challenge. No, I forgot to tell you that bit.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

I think it's definitely more about the morning. But we did it, didn't we? We did it. Yeah, because what I think getting and and I don't just think this, I know this, getting out and having morning daylight is very, very good for us. Yeah. So we did 6 a.m., didn't we? And I messaged Lisa to make sure she was up and out and tell you you enjoyed it, didn't you?

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Yeah, no, I did. I really did, and actually I didn't set off quite at six because when we did it, which was probably what a week or so ago, it wasn't quite light enough then. No. So there was a really distinct difference between pre-dawn and post-dawn, I thought. And pre-dawn, I was just amazed about how much sound and smell took over from sight as your primary sense. Because we rely on looking for stuff all the time, don't we? And and actually, because the you know, it was a bit it was a murky morning and it was a bit almost drizzled, that fine mist. But I could hear the bird song so loud and fox barking. Birds were so loud, right? So loud. But there was so little going on that any movement catches your eye. So, you know, there were these four magpies squabbling on the lawn, and just they were move, they were the only thing moving. So I was watching them for a little while. And and also, you know, you get the pale bark of a silver birch amongst all the dark trunks. Really stands out. I I don't know, I just felt all my senses were really heightened.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

Yeah, no, I really noticed that too. I really noticed my body kind of waking up as well. I don't know if you felt this. I made some little voice notes as I was going, and at first I was tired, I had a bit of a headache, and I wasn't I wasn't really enjoying it that much. And it was, I was quite cold, and you know you said it was a bit dark, and I noticed the birds, and I was thinking that's actually quite peaceful. But the next time I made a note, like 15 minutes later, I was just I was feeling so much better, like my body had woken up, I was getting this dawn light, and it was really interesting the difference and the difference in how I felt as I kind of went on.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

I just felt so alive, you know, um when I was out there in a way that I wouldn't normally at that time of day, you know. I mean, I'm not I'm not I am fairly morning person, but I I still, you know, need a cup of tea and you know, kind of plod around for a little bit to get myself going. And I didn't feel like that at all. There's quite a smug sense of satisfaction, I think.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

Really when you get up early, don't you? And you look at other people who are up early and you look at each other like, yeah, yeah, we're winning, aren't we?

SPEAKER_00 36:56

We're doing this, yeah. We've got this. I know. Although I only saw one person the whole time I was out. Oh, really? I saw a few. It was a bloke with a puppy who obviously woke up really early and won and was desperate to get out, and he looked really gloomy. But it didn't matter because the nature was amazing, because with the light came different. The bird song calmed down a little bit, but there was much more to see. So there was this pair of buzzards circling, and I was watching this woodpecker drumming on a tree, and I could see it because oh wow, it was just there in front of me. Yeah, and and of course there was less traffic, so you know, I heard the whoosh of a cyclist going past, and you know, things that I wouldn't normally hear.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

I think doing it at the weekend was good for that. Yes, I think you'd probably have had more rush hour traffic, wouldn't you? Definitely, but I had decided I did a little bit of a field walk and down and back. But while I was them, then I was walking through the city and I was could see because we've obviously got quite a lot of hotels here. There was, you know, all the kind of people setting up tables for breakfast, and you know, you could I could see lights coming on in houses, and it was really felt like I was observing this awakening, awakening of the day.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

So hang on, so you were you were in Bath, which is obviously a really busy place, but there was hardly anyone around.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

No, I was the only person standing in front of the Abbey Cathedral. Oh, that's special. For you know, a good couple of minutes, and then and then a woman walked towards me who was probably on her way to work, I think. By the way, she looked like she was, and she we kind of gave each other a little smile. Yeah, yeah. But I had my dog with me who was quite, I think, quite confused by what was going on, quite excited, but a little bit like why are we out at this time of day? Yeah, yeah. But and then when we walked back up through the fields, it was like, oh, here it this the birds were all out all out on the field. Yeah, yeah. They were kind of you know, the crows and the magpies, and you know, were looking at us a bit like, hang on, no, this is our time. You know, what are you doing here?

SPEAKER_00 38:51

So this 666 thing was set up as almost about weight loss and health and stuff, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 38:57

Yeah, and ways to get people to get their steps up, I guess, and and get warm. Yes, well, that's what I was gonna say. It's it's a safe and healthy exercise.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Yeah, but actually the it the benefits are so much wider than that, aren't they? Because of all this stuff we saw and heard and you know felt. But you did have a good step count that day, didn't you? You could see I think you told me later. I did.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

I had 15,268 steps. There you go. Well, and I'd and 10k, not from just that one walk, I have to say. I did go for another another kind of shorter walk later on with because my other dog needed a walk.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

Being home before eight and having already done that, I've by 9:30 I'd done so much of my day. It was great. It was it was really empowering. Yeah, I've really enjoyed my breakfast as well. Yes, I had two breakfasts, yeah. Second breakfast, like a hobbit.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's good, it's good.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

I'd recommend it. No, it's great. Oh, and actually, talking of hobbits, this leads us really nicely on to Whimsy. Oh yes, which we've got a piece in our April issue about Whimsy, which is having a bit of a moment, isn't it? And well, we were just having a discussion before we started about how to define Whimsy. And actually, Laura, who wrote the article, I I think she she gets it quite good. She said, as the teenagers would say, it's based on vibes. I think it's all about joy de vive, uh curiosity, gratitude, freedom, and wonder, which you know, yeah, what's not to like, really.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

Yeah. So we talked about this because it came about because um we were saying about how the yeah, the teenagers were talking about things being whimsy. And I think we decided that we're actually quite whimsy, you know, the magazine, really, aren't we? Are you whimsical? I think I am quite whimsy. I certainly was a very whimsy child, very daydreamy, lots of always playing lots of imaginative games. And then I think, you know, probably living in the city for a long time, living in London, maybe get, you know, sort of dampened down my whimsy a little bit. But I feel like coming back to Somerset, having children. Children are really whimsy, aren't they? You can't help but be a bit whimsical when you're kind of hanging out with kids.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

I know, and you and you tell stories and make up names for things with kids, don't you? And then as your kids get older, you grow out of it too. And I I kind of miss it. It was really interesting because you know, you know that I'd been taking some time away from the issue because I've been working on this homebird bookazine. And so I was reading this piece without having seen it before, very much like I hope our readers do. And I I just really it really spoke to me. Yeah. I loved when she says, you know, she describes the whimsical thing she does about naming her hens and the birds in the garden. And then she says, But I'm not seven or a Disney princess. And it's like, despite what you might think. I know, but I thought, who doesn't want to be either seven or a Disney princess occasionally? And I used to name my hens. And um, I'm thinking, you know, we have birds nesting in our garden every year, and why not give them names and make up stories about their lives?

SPEAKER_02 41:51

And you know, we always used to have funny names for people living, you know, on living on our road and people and on holiday and things like that. And and I always had funny names for you know all my family members. I still I still do, but I think it's just about having I mean it's different, it means different things to different people, it does, but it's about imagination, isn't it? Really? And and allowing that to just run free. Letting it roam, letting it play. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

Yes. So we're all for whimsy. We expect to find us more whimsical in the in the next season of the podcast. Well, I think so, because this is a whimsy season, surely, May and I reckon, yes. But before we go, we are, as we've been doing all season, we are looking back at intentions we set last year and seeing whether we followed through on them. And uh Bex, do you want to go first on this one?

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Well, I'm quite uh I'm quite pleased about this one because the one I looked at uh today was I said I was gonna get up early and do something for myself before everyone else gets up in the house. And cracked it. There we go, cracked it with my walk. But I must say I haven't done the six days a week part of the challenge yet.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

I'm building up I feel the novelty might disappear if I'm doing it six days a week.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

Yeah, but I am always up first and I don't always do something for myself. Um quite often get caught up with jobs and chores and things. So it's kind of reminded me to take that little bit of that little window of time when no one else is up and do try and do something, just one thing for myself. Good plan.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

So I went back to um the renew episode from season five, in which I said I'm going to rethink my shed and greenhouse. Oh yeah, how's that going? Well, it didn't. I I I did not do anything about it. And I could field various excuses as to why not. But the thing is, so I haven't done it, but I do think you know, spring is a good time to have a clear out. And and also, you know, it's more fun cleaning a shed in the sunshine than it is cleaning the house, isn't it? And just start small, I think.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

You know, just pick, you know, one one area or something.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

Because what what I struggle with is once I've sorted it out, is actually getting it. The tip, or you know, throwing things out or whatever. So my aim is going to be to find some new users for at least three old things.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

That's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 44:10

And then I'll feel good about it and find you know things that I can use somewhere else more practically. Repurposing. Exactly. I'm thinking this is my my way in to getting my shed sorted and making more use of the space. And and actually, just because we're mentioning old episodes, all of them are still available to download, including, do you remember the Easter special we did last year? So um people can listen to that if they fancy over Easter. When we were having a sauna. Indeed. So that's it for season nine. Well, I mean, we hope you enjoyed it and are ready to rise and shine just in time for spring proper. I think we are Bex, aren't we? Yeah, definitely. All ready for it. Good. And thank you also to Friends of Glass for their support this season. Because you know, I for one am sold on glass packaging as a way to reduce my plastic use. And I think because it keeps products longer and because it can be recycled again and again, it's a good thing. So remember you can find out more on their Instagram, Friends of Glass UK, and on the Friends of Glass website. And that there'll be links to that, how to choose an immediate start subscription so you get our April issues straight away, and everything else we've mentioned will be in our show notes. And Bex and Joe and I are all going to be back, well, quite soon actually, with season 10, and we're calling it May Days. The first episode releases on May Day weekend, and this is possibly my absolute favourite time of the year. So I really hope you can join us then. Bye from us, and thanks for listening.