October Taking time to live well Veg patch pantry • Orchard outings • Why we love a scary story Bramble whisky & heather biscotti • Found poetry • Wearing wellies Wanders at dusk • Beetroot linguine • Conker soap & carving turnips HARVEST
Once the summer crops have been harvested, try giving a greenhouse a new lease of life as somewhere novel to host a gathering
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e'd all have a garden room in an ideal world, where we could gather as the nights turn chillier or for when the weather is a bit iffy. Pop on your favourite jumper, add a blanket or cosy scarf and all you really need in early autumn is a bit of shelter –step forward the greenhouse. Once you’ve cleared it out of its summer harvest, there’s a window before it becomes home to tender overwintering plants, and this is its time to shine*. Set up a folding table and chairs, prepare a menu of harvest treats and squeeze in as many friends as is comfortable. Defrost a few foraged blackberries for a fruity cocktail, use up a tomato glut by mixing them with smoky chorizo (and garlic bread to soak it all up) and make the most of your squash with a kick of chilli and the bite of fennel. Enjoy stuffed peppers and couscous, then finish it all off with a sweet fig tart and lashing of boozy cream. All served while staring at the stars (and staying dry should the heavens open).
Recipes and Styling: KAY PRESTNEY
MARK THE END OF THE GROWING SEASON WITH A GARDEN PARTY UNDER GLASS… AND THE STARS
Harvest feastival
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Photography: REBECCA LEWIS
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*No greenhouse, no problem. String a tarpaulin between two trees, rethink a shed or garage for the evening and celebrate the harvest outdoors in style.
Welcome to my veg patch
Take a stroll with me in my garden and see it change through the seasons. I’ll share what I’m planting, harvesting and cooking, including my successes… and my failures. We’ll gather the goodies in a muddy bucket and head to the kitchen to make a joyful meal (we’ll even use the slug-nibbled ones). These are the simple, seasonal recipes I make after a day in the garden. I hope they inspire and give you some new ways to celebrate nature’s bounty. The dog’s name is Hadleigh, by the way.
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Ve g Patch
THEKITCHENOUTDOORS,GROWINGPantryYOUROWN,BEINGTHENCOOKINGUPTABLEDISHES,KATHYSLACKSHARESHOWTOENJOYFRUITSOFYOURLABOURSFROMHERGARDENPLOT
In praise of Autumn
Autumn, the most abundant time in the plot. The late summer crops are clinging on, but the winter harvest is arriving, too. It’s no wonder harvest festivals happen at this time of year. This month I’m bringing in the pumpkins; there’s a tangle of bean canes to fell (though the mice have had a good go at bringing them down themselves as they cling to the leftover beans, nibbling away and swinging from the ends); and, the courgette leaves have turned crispy in the first frost, so lots to go on the bonfire pile. It’s messy, hard and satisfying work that calls for a warming meal to enjoy next to the first fire of the year.
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Photography: KIRSTIE YOUNG
Annette Dauphin Simon suggests a new way of looking at your shelves: spine poetry. It’s a game she and her colleagues devised working in a Florida bookshop one day. In a packed shop, with a busy mix of all kinds of books, they began reading the titles in “their random arrangements.” She became hooked, devising and recording these ‘found verses’, now brought together in her book Spine Poems. Sometimes the results are funny, sometimes incredibly poignant, but – as this selection shows – they always make you think, just like ‘real’ poetry does. That ‘real’ is in quotes because ‘found poetry’ is its own genre of poetry (there’s even a magazine devoted to it, The Found
SPINE POETRY
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WE LOOK TO DISCOVER VERSES THAT MOVE US INSIDE BOOKS BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF TAKE A LOOK AT THE OUTSIDE, TOO?
W hat do you see when you cast your eyes over your bookcase? Some old favourites, no doubt, or some still waiting to be read.
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Poetry Review), practised by literary bigwigs such as T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams, who played with lines they found from other sources. Others have made poetry from newspaper snippets and even phone notes. Part of the joy is that these poems are something that you too could find down your local bookshop. Well-known titles – such as Tender is the Night –get a new layer of meaning. Annette writes that she particularly likes how it’s ‘finding a new way to see the everyday.’ And, of course, as soon as you see these, you’re bound to start scanning your own shelves and trying to make your own. It’s a prompt to creativity that can be taken as seriously and/or as playfully as you’d like. Annette invites you to join in: ‘Perhaps you’ll hear a title or two or ten calling your name, or feel inspired to create better, smarter spine poems of your own,’ she writes. ‘I confess: I hope you do.’
Titles by: Camryn Garrett; Grant Snider
DistractedDisruptedBookshelfZoom
Titles by: Abby Jimenez; H.M Shander; Dianna Hutts Aston and E.B. Lewis
The Happy Ever After Playlist It All Began with a Note When You Were Born Disclosure Will Judge You by Your
Full
Titles by: Istvan Banyai; Dan Lyons; James Lang; Constance Lombardo; Heidi Moreno
2022COPYRIGHTSIMON.DAUPHINANNETTEPHOTOGRAPHY: GALLERY
Everybody says Meow Working from Home with a Cat
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alk through six acres at Wakehurst, the Royal Horticultural Society’s gardens in West Sussex, and you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in the grasslands of the Pacific Northwest. Three years in the making, this replica of American prairieland, has been created by RHS horticulturalists. After sowing 12 million seeds of 110 species, and planting over 50,000 live plants, the land burst into life this year
POSITIVE
12 million adults in the UK are affected by hearing loss. Now XRAI Glass sunglasses may help. They convert audio into subtitles which appear on the lenses in real time for the wearer to read.
Hidden for decades, art by Picasso, Warhol and Duchamp have been put on display in The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran. Considered ‘deviant’ by the ruling authorities, the exhibition is a bold move, and a reminder of Iran’s historically strong cultural standing.
LITTLE LAB ON THE PRAIRIE Part of Wakehurst has been given over to a unique living laboratory Over 12 million seeds have been sown at toWakehurstrecreate US prairieland Good
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HIV HOPE
Part of a pioneering study – Nature Unlocked – it makes Wakehurst a living laboratory, as scientists from Kew Gardens use the site to carry out research on carbon storage, pollination, hydrology and wellbeing.
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Four people have now been cured of HIV – the most recent seemingly accidentally when they received a bone marrow transplant for leukaemia from someone with rare natural immunity.
“It will highlight the importance of these habitats and share our knowledge of this ecosystem,” explains Ed Ikin, Wakehurst’s Director. “It’s a reminder of the importance of biodiversity.”
KEWRBG/HOLDENJIMPHOTOGRAPHY
REVEALED ART thingsNEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
As sea levels rise, and we build bridges, roads and sea defences to connect us and keep our cities dry, the concrete used is devastating marine life by replacing natural habitats. But three Australian marine ecologists – Associate Professor Melanie Bishop, Dr Katherine Dafforn, and Dr Mariana Mayer Pinto – created a solution now being used across three continents. Their living walls mimic the features of natural shoreline ecosystems, such as rock pools and crevices, encouraging seaweeds, shellfish and other marine life. In living walls in Sydney Harbour, for example, the number of fish, seaweeds and invertebrates has already increased by 36%, giving hope for coastlines around the world. has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult.
climate change on communities and help prevent future disasters.
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BETTER NEWS
aps don’t just show us where we are and where we want to go. We take them for granted, but there are vast swathes of the world that are unmapped because of their complexity – shanty towns, slums, areas that have been prone to disaster. Using drones and volunteers with streetviewstyle cameras exploring on foot to digitise information showing the truth of where buildings are, accurate maps can be used to help indigenous people lay claim to their land rights, for example, or to map the possible impact of
It’s a human-centred approach that can change people’s lives significantly. In Nairobi, Kenyan geographic information systems company Spatial Collective worked with locals in one neighbourhood to work out where people felt most threatened – highlighting the different experiences between men and women. That map will lead to better street lighting, business licensing, and policing a map that makes the world safer, and more open, for everyone.
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Mapping uncharted ground leads to improved safety
Marine habitats mimicked
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That’s bananas!
Excellent women
GOADALEXCOLLECTIVE;SPATIALSHUTTERSTOCK;PHOTOGRAPHY:-HALL.DERRYJOHANNABY:COMPILED
A green banana a day… could help prevent colorectal cancer. New research shows that starches like those in unripe bananas resist breakdown in the small intestine, feeding the microbiome of the large intestine, keeping your lower guts healthy for longer.
MAPS THAT ARE SAVING THE WORLD
Queen Elizabeth II, given during her 1957 Christmas broadcast – the first Christmas Day speech to be televised.
The apples of our eye SIMPLE PLEASURES CHANGE LITTLE OVER TIME. PICKING APPLES IS AS FULFILLING (AND FILLING) NOW AS IT WAS WHEN WE PUBLISHED THIS IN THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE SIMPLE THINGS Words: MELISSA BLEASE Photography: LYNN KEDDIE 10TH BIRTHDAY ISSUE 70
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he summer holidays are over, the days are getting shorter and there’s a distinct chill in the air. But to prepare ourselves for hibernation would mean missing out on the treats of a season that’s arguably the most beautiful of all. Bonfire smoke, piles of red and golden leaves and misty sunsets make us forgive the lack of sunshine. And a countryside stroll or even just a brief walk »
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THE WASHING MACHINE, THE SPORTS BRA... IT’S UNSURPRISING THAT MANY INVENTIONS THAT HAVE HELPED WOMEN – BY GIVING THEM MORE TIME OR MORE FREEDOM – WERE ALSO INVENTED BY WOMEN
Words: SIAN MEADES-WILLIAMS
THE MOTHER INVENTIONOF
Stories of the clothes we love WELLIES
y childhood was spent on the cusp of the countryside, where the suburbs met the sweeping fields. When the wind blew our way, the gentle lowing of cattle soundtracked the usual small-town pursuits – lawnmowing, seed-sowing, leaf-blowing – and at the end of our cul-de-sac, I could choose my own adventure.
Turn right, and I’d be heading for the shopping centre, beloved Boots lipbalm in pocket; turn left, and the streets soon made way for the wide open. Not far from home, there were bales to scale, streams to wade, and farm friends – two-legged and four –to visit. And for that, I needed wellies.
Not that it would have mattered if I didn’t have my own pair, of course. I suspect there might be an unofficial rural rulebook somewhere, stating that all farmhouses must have a porch crammed full of old wellies in a variety of sizes (see also: anoraks), ready for guests to plunder on a rainy day.
Welly-less kids from town never had to ruin their dazzling white trainers to enjoy the great outdoors. The search for a matching pair caused an avalanche of Dunlops and Goodyears and giggles, followed by a flurry of thick socks and shoehorns. Then the door would burst open, and we’d be gone – a gaggle of well-shod wanderers,
They strike me with a lightning bolt of excited anticipation every time I pull them on, and I hope that childlike glee will never dry up. There’s a feeling of invincibility that comes with knowing your feet won’t get soaked on a stormy day – I turn into a wet-weather superhero, ready to outwit the rain clouds, one defiant splash at a time. And for any unwellied caped crusaders who happen to join me, I do (of course) have my very own burgeoning hillock of ancient wellies by the door, just in case...
TOA.STPROFESSIONALS;IMAGEALAMY;PHOTOGRAPHY:
ready for all manner of mud and manure. Adventure was afoot when the wellies went on.
My favourite pair are battered and blue, bought from Seasalt years ago for an open-air wedding on a remote Scottish peninsula. These bright boots have danced the Orcadian Strip the Willow, trampled across sand dunes and forest floors, squelched and squooshed through park puddles, and led me down the garden path in pursuit of forageable berries.
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STYLE
Words: LAURA
WEARINGBROWNWELL
“Adventure was afoot when the wellies went on”
Ever since, my wellies have stood for fun and frolics. Even though I’ve been living in cities for the past 25 years, I’ve always had a pair ready and waiting for weekend trips, festivals, and the merest hint of drizzle when it’s time to take out the bins.
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BRINGING IT HOME
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RESPECT AND REPURPOSING HAVE TRANSFORMED A FORMER CORNISH FARM WITH COTTAGES AND A BARN INTO A SPACE FOR BOTH WORKING AND LIVING WELL Words and photography: THE CONTENTED NEST/GAP INTERIORS
While mid-century lovers will be able to spot a classic or two in Christen and Chris’s home, they sit alongside chunky natural materials in a way that feels distinctly modern Cornish
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MY PLOT A RURAL GARDEN THAT WELCOMES WILDLIFE ALSO PROVIDES BEX PARTRIDGE WITH FLOWERS AND FOLIAGE FOR DRYING AND ARRANGING Cut and dried Words: BEX PARTRIDGE Photography: LAURA EDWARDS 106
I’ve gardened for as long as I can remember, spending my pocket money on plants for my mum’s garden when I lived at home, and then in my early twenties, spending my weekends growing sweetpeas and making ponds while my friends were out clubbing. The drying of flowers came about quite by accident – a vase of flowers left forgotten on the sideboard during a particularly stressful time in my life sparked an interest that’s since grown, some might say, out of control.
The story so far
The focus in my garden is to create and nurture an ecosystem that benefits my work and the wildlife we welcome in. Each section merges into another, and all structures are built from wood cut from trees or shrubs that need maintenance – the aim is to be as self-sufficient as we can. And this is one of the reasons I love
Flowers forever
107 » GROWING
Up until we moved to east Devon, I’d always grown in small spaces, whether
Bex moved to her Devonshire plot two years ago and jumped straight into rewilding the formal garden that surrounded the property so that she could grow flowers for her business.
Bex Partridge is a floral artist, based in east Devon. She and her family moved there in late 2020 and have turned the house’s formal garden into a wild landscape, supporting pollinators and the wider ecosystem. Bex specialises in creating installations and art using the flowers that she grows and dries herself. She’s written two books: Everlastings and, recently, Flowers Forever (Hardie Grant). Follow her: @botanical_tales.
that be a town garden, a roof terrace or a quarter allotment plot. My new garden is half an acre of flat-ish land that’s quickly becoming an oasis for me, my family, my work and for the bees, birds and butterflies.
useswildpollinators,space,naturepathsfabricweed-suppressingRemovingandconcretehashelpedreclaimthebringingbackandinturngrasses,whichsheinarrangements
If
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