One Thing Today

It’s a beautiful frosty morning here in Wales and I’m by my gate saying hello to you after what felt like a very big day yesterday…

The albeit probably brief return of winter here in Wales this morning feels very welcome. Join me as I say hello to the chickens and then take a slow, snowy walk up the hill to the grove of oak trees. May your day unfold into the shape that is right for you.

My One Thing for today is to rest, but I did want to record you a short podcast as today is a big day in chicken world.

I’m hoping that I’m sounding a little less dopey than I did when I recorded the first podcast of the year on Saturday. I do feel more chipper and find myself looking forward to what is increasing feeling like the start of a new creative year. Join me for slightly longer walk than normal as I follow a sheep path to Bluebell Hill (where the first bluebells will be appearing in about a month) and talk about emerging into the new year. As you’ll hear, midway through the podcast I pause the recording to take a photo and before I resume recording find myself on a rather unexpected Tiny Adventure. The video of that Tiny Adventure will be available to watch on my Patreon page in a couple of days.

In this first episode of One Thing Today of 2021 you find me climbing over my garden gate and heading up the hill to the Big Oak to mark the moment of the spring equinox and the start of the new year. The walk up the hill provides a chance to reflect a little on how my hibernation has been, how I’ve tried to make it a distinctly different time from the rest of the year and how I feel about emerging into the new year. I do hope the last three months has treated you well and that if you've been hibernating alongside me you can emerge gently into the new year. I'm looking forward to seeing where the coming weeks and months takes us all. PS Listening back to this episode, I realised that I got myself in quite a knot when talking about the rhyme Oak Before Ash. If you’re interested in much less muddled discussion of this bit of countryside lore, this might be a good place to start: https://oakobsessionsblog.wordpress.com/2017/04/26/oak-before-ash-in-for-a-splash/

I wasn't sure until about two minutes before I set out that I was going to take this walk, but I'm glad I did. In this final episode of One Thing Today until the spring, I climb over my gate with about ten minutes to go until the winter solstice. My aim is to climb the hill to the Big Oak where I'm hoping to stand to mark the moment of the solstice and the official start of my three-month hibernation... I shall be back with the next episode of One Thing Today in the spring (on or around 20th March 2021). In the meantime, I shall be recording an analogue series of podcasts following my hibernation which will be available here on Patreon for all patrons. I'm looking forward to sharing my hibernation with you. Perhaps you'd like to join me for some hunkering down of your own over the next few months.

I'm back in my kitchen putting the finishing touches to my slow-made chutney. Five days after I was peeling pears with you, I'm sterilising some jars and adding the final ingredients to my saucepan before simmering the chutney mixture for a few hours...

The slow chutney making continues... :-)

It's been a few weeks since I was in my kitchen making some pear and onion chutney, now I'm back, peeler in hand, preparing to make a second, larger batch. In the first in a series of three podcasts, I'm experimenting with some slow cooking, making this second batch of chutney over a number of days at a pace that (hopefully) will fit with my current hibernatory energy level. It would be lovely to have your company.

I feel as though I am gradually sinking into hibernation and as I do so am beginning to notice that my mood and energy levels seem to be improving. Today has started slowly with a small jigsaw puzzle, and now you find me in my kitchen making breakfast for the cats...