As part of our three-part awaken series to welcome in the Spring energy, we invite you to slow down and take in all that nature has to offer.
This week has been glorious summer-like weather and the tendency to 'do' has been ever present. It's amazing how much more sociable and energised we can feel when the sun is shining. Susanna and I spent a beautiful few days over the Spring Equinox and harnessed that momentum to really dream in and begin to 'get stuff done'. Spring is a transitional season, so in her natural way, she will be bringing the frosts back and even a hint of snow in the North of the UK, reigning us in, bringing us back to the hearth to slow down once more.
A foraged recipe
While we were on our writing retreat we stumbled across a woodland teaming with Wild Garlic.
Wild garlic is a brilliant plant to forage. It is so easy to identify, with its broad green leaves and crown-like flower (coming later in the season), but it is so hard to confuse with anything else. Just give the leaves a little rub and you'll smell the distinctive garlic aroma. No mistaking this one! I like to use is in place of bulb garlic in dishes such as garlic bread, add a few raw leaves to salads or potato salad like you would chives, wilt it down in a omelette or add wherever you'd use spinach too. But my favourite (and the family's too) is to make it into pesto. Super easy, nutritious and delicious!
Liz's Super-Easy Wild Garlic Pesto Recipe
Serves 4
Ingredients
80g wild garlic, washed
40g pine nuts
approx 150ml olive oil
50g grated parmesan
juice 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Take time for a walking meditation with Susanna
Password: Awaken
Why not get yourself out into nature and take some time just for you with Susanna's walking meditation. Just pop on your headphones and land on the Earth, ready to soak up some of that Spring energy.
Liz and Susanna's Spring read
I am inhaling Second Spring. I've read it cover to cover over a long weekend, battened down from storm, and it's blooming brilliant! It feels like a warm hug from a trusty friend, or big sister, who has walked this path ahead of me and is sharing the wisdom. I just love the tone it sets, and such good humour - I've found myself laughing out loud often and reading bits to my partner. It's helping me make sense of the phases of the perimenopause transition in a way I haven't grasped before, it really puts flesh on the bones and offers a very real, practical, nourishing way forward in a no messing kind of way. - Susanna