My little family is about to take a little break. Not from each other, but from the city and work, from battling for parking and crowded living in a flat, from barricading our kid into the ungated backyard using a line of bins to stop her escaping onto the road while we hang out the laundry. H has resigned from his job and he will start a business of his own in one month. So for a month we are going to be all three together, mostly away from home. Thinking about this makes me feel excited and relieved and calm at the same time.
For a couple of weeks, at least, we will go stay at my parents’ farm. They will be there some of the time and not there some of the time, which will suit us all just fine. My mum has some serious May Blossom catching up to do, since she has been looking after her own mother in America for a month now.
I’ve been making a list of things I’d like to do during our time away. I admit that it is heavily influenced by my discovery two days ago of the magic and wonder and merriment and deliciousness that is the work of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Top name, splendid cook. I want to read all his books, watch all his shows and cook all his recipes and hyphenate all his names. Why stop at just one hyphen? Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall. That’s even better.
Back to my list. Here it is.
1. Make bread.
2. Make jam
3. Do a painting. A watercolour, probably. More forgiving, I think.
4. Walk on the beach a lot.
5. Swim, even if it’s a bit cold.
6. Forage for wild food.
7. Listen to some new music.
8. Read a book. A paper one.
9. Sing songs while H plays the guitar, like a pair of goddamn hippies.
10. Build my blog audience.
How can you help, I hear you asking? Well that’s very kind of you to offer. Let’s see now.
1. I can do this myself. I’ll make normal yeasted bread (sourdough still scares me — what if I kill it?), follow H-F-W’s instructions to the letter and it will be as delicious as the soda bread from his recipe I made on Tuesday. I’ll take a picture and show you how it turns out.
2. Any tips? I’ve never jammed anything before. On H-F-W’s show he made dandelion jam, which looked whimsical but like it might have tasted gross. I have a vague memory of what my fingers tasted like after picking dandelions as a kid. Ick. I think I shall stick to fruit. Maybe some late season plums?
3. I am rubbish at art – today I tried to draw a pig but it was so bad I added lots of circles behind its body and told May Blossom it was a caterpillar. But whatever I come up with I’ll show you, as shit as it may be.
4. and 5. Ugh, exercise. I can probably manage these. I just have to silence the Can’t-Be-Arsed Fairies that often flutter around my head, whispering sweet do-nothings in my ear.
6. H-F-W is big on foraging, and thus so am I. Pictured above is the garlic that grows wild around the property, and I’ve spotted fennel too. We shall see what we find. I will try not to poison us.
7. and 8. Can you please recommend books and music for me? What have you read or listened to lately that you’ve liked?
9. We don’t need any help with this. Save the help for May Blossom in her teenage years when she has to deal with the memories we will create by singing ‘Electric Dreams’ at her like a pair of deranged, out-of-tune Seekers.
10. You can help with this one. If you’ve been enjoying Life With Gusto, would you please tell a friend about it? Link to it on Facebook or Twitter or whatever new soshull nerwerking site is the next big thing. I’ve crunched some stats and undertaken a comprehensive market research survey, and the following groups of people seem to be my target audience: my parents, my old school friends, my aunts, my counsellor, my physiotherapist, my former colleagues. Perhaps your mum, old school friends, aunts, counsellor, physiotherapist and former colleagues might like it too.
Your month of relaxation and new adventures sounds wonderful! Good luck!
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As an aunt and allegedly a wise one at that! I have 2 comments to make and a question.
Comment 1. I think there should be more mandarin marmalade in the world.
Comment 2. I am about to try and make ‘black garlic’, the new rave ingredient (of which I am sure H-F-W would heartily approve) by keeping some at around 135-150 deg F for several weeks and I am assured that magic happens. I know it is perhaps not sanitary to make this on the heated bathroom floor but what people don’t know won’t hurt them and it will be hermetically sealed in an airtight container.
Question.
What is the benefit to building your blog audience? Does it make you richer thinner, beautifuller etc?
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WAJ, I agree with you about the mandarin marmalade. Your second comment terrifies me. What in the name of all that’s holy is black garlic? Black with mold?
In answer to your question, building my blog audience might mean that one day I could start to make a little money out of this self-indulgent pass-time, maybe, if enough people like reading it. It could indeed make me richer. It probably won’t make me beautifuller. That’s why I keep my face out of this. On the Internet, no-one can see my pajamas and grubby old ugboots.
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I’m a H-F-W fan too! I got his new River Cottage Veg Every Day book a few months ago, and love it. The cover is a bit strange, but every recipe inside it is delicious!
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So excited for you! Sounds like you all need some breathing space. Would love to hear what the new business is going to be…
If you want some inspiration from lady-bloggers-who-blogged-about-their-lifechanging-decisions-and-then-started-making-money-from-the-blog, check out Al Tait’s blog Life In A Pink Fibro, as well as Moving to Portugal.
Do you link your blog posts to Facebook? That generates lots of traffic. And write some books and sell them on your blog – I’d buy them!
(In our house, we call them thugboots…)
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Oh, and the other thing that helps people to discover your blog is to comment on others (using your blog account when you do so). If you can be bothered, of course.
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Apropos foraging, don’t forget stinging nettles, a nutritious and in some places popular food.
There are plenty of stinging nettles along the riverbank on your parents’ farm.
Their chief advantage maybe doesn’t fit so well with the idea of foraging, which has connotations of you rootling about in the sylvan bush hunting for your dinner. The beauty of stinging nettles as a food source is that they do all the rootling—you just walk aimlessly along the river bank dressed in anything but high boots and leather trousers, and they find you. Then while you dance about screaming and shouting, your high booted, leather trousered and long leather gloved accomplice deftly snips them with the garden shears and pops them in a handy canvas bag.
You then try not to run into anything while you dash back to the house, all the while googling “‘stinging nettles’ antidote” on your iPhone.
Ah, idyllic.
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I already shared with my mum, who loves it! We will spread the gusto gladly 🙂 Enjoy your break, sounds like it’ll be bliss!
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The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Society.
Have you read it? It is delightful I think.
I love HFW. He and cable television saved me from slitting my wrists (perhaps a slight exaggeration for entertainment purposes) when I was stuck at home with 2 feral babies…
Sorry my blog name is so dumb.
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I have already done two things about your blog (because I love it):
1. I have posted on FB about how wonderful it, and you are.
2. I have contacted Best Blogs 2012 comp and nominated you and they should be contacting you.
I will continue to do whatever I can!
BUT huge excitement! Need to know more about future plans!
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Jess, I love Hugh! I was so happy to discover that he’s dedicated his new show to vegetables. Now I can buy the book and put it next to MEAT, and all will be right in the world. Well, all will be right on my cookbook shelf, anyway.
I don’t read any more (I am not skilled enough to breastfeed and hold a book) but I watch a lot of TV and I can highly recommend Game of Thrones.
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Personally I’m a cumquat marmalade fan. My world definitely needs more cumquat marmalade – but as the possums eat everything in my garden it may not be forthcoming.
I am also a H-F-W fan but feel the odd useful tip can also be gleaned from Bear Grylls. Recently he was in the wilds of Iceland – beset by freezing gales and lack of food. Hey presto, he came upon a dead Icelandic sheep (prime meat). He judged it to be a few days dead which was perfectly alright as it was frozen. He cut the meat he needed, threaded it on to his bootlace and then dangled the meat in the boiling waters of a volcanic lake. He assured us as he munched, that the perfectly cooked lamb was as good as any ever to be found in any excellent restaurant.
I realise that your parents’ farm may not have boiling volcanic lakes, or even dead, frozen Icelandic sheep. You can never tell though when tips such as these might come in handy.
As far as being a fan of Life With Gusto – I am. So I shall spread the word.
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I’ve never heard of H-F-W! Maybe because I don’t cook (I graze) – and maybe because I am so over the endless cooking programs and anything else slightly smacking of reality and ‘improve yourself’ TV. Add to that list Spics and Specs and Dr Who. Why on earth did they bother inventing ABC2 when all they do is re-run (ad nauseam) programs from ABC1?
But after that frustrated rave, I highly recommend Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. The film was apparently a dog – scathingly referred to as Extremely Long and Incredibly Boring, but the book is wonderful. Inside the wonderous mind of an 8 year old searching for a connection with his dead father. I found it pure magic. You may well have already read it.
Enjoy your country escape and please send a jar of dandelion jam.
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Lovely J, your plans sound perfect. I am V jealous.
I am currently reading and loving THE ART OF FIELDING by Chad Harbach. I accidentally bought one too many copies at Christmas, so let me know if you’d like to read.
I too am a big H F-W fan. His puns are dreadfully wonderful and that soda bread looked scrumdiddily.
xx
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S-W-G
I’m reading House of Stone by Anthony Shadid and finding it an interesting journey. State of Wonder is also a good read, probably more catchy than the Shadid–more fiction for sure.
I love your Blogs, J. and read each one with a smile–especially when there are photos of May Blossom–who reminds me of two little girls named Zoe and Lulu. From the back, it could be any one of them–a few years back, of course, for the cousins.
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Well, I just found your blog about 20 or 30 minutes ago and I’m already a fan. Love your sense of humour. I shall tweet the word. 😉
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Good plum jam is to die for! Make it a goodie.
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Plum jam sounds fabulous. I made eight million different kinds of jam – well, five kinds – for Christmas, and it was both fun and surprisingly easy, even for a culinary ignoramus such as myself. I used the recipes and directions at pickyourown.org, which you’ve probably found if you’ve done any googling.
And sending all good thoughts towards H – I hope you all have an excellent break and that his new venture is a raging success.
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Re 7: I’ve been enjoying Michael Kiwanuka. I also plan to download some Emily Barker she apparently sings the beautiful theme song to the BBC Wallander series (which I also recommend if you haven’t watched ). Enjoy your month x
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