Idyllic day picking apples
It was one of those early Summer mornings with fog, promising a bright, sunny day ahead. I was excited to make coffee and be outside in the garden. When I opened the door, the fresh, cool morning air greeted me and I walked over to the step to sit down. With my hands wrapped around my hot mug of coffee, cosied up in my soft woolly poncho, I sat and watched the birds come and go and allowed my mind to wander.
After watching the world go by for a while, listening to the birds and sheep, I wandered over to the apple trees. They really needed pruning and I was feeling very out of my depth. It’s another one of those new things that I don’t have a clue about since moving to the countryside. After googling it I find I don’t have to worry about pruning them until Winter time. But one of the things I can do now is pick up the rotting apples that have fallen to the ground and pick the healthy apples from the trees to bake with. I can’t believe there is such an abundance all around. Soon there will be blackberries to pick, I already dried some nettles to make nettle tea with. It just feels so idyllic and in that moment I forget about some of the uncomfortable things about living in the country (the huge spiders, the mud, lots of flies and bugs…). It reminded me that these were the things I had been looking forward to for so long while living in the city and the importance of making time for them in my day to day.
Some freshly picked cooking apples from the garden
I spent the rest of my morning baking granola and brownies whilst listening to a podcast and I realised how much I love the slow pace, not watching the time, engaging with nature, doing things with my hands. I feel transported to another time, a long time ago when things were simpler.
Before I knew it, the morning had gone and it was time to go into the village to browse the antique shops, the bookshop and have some lunch. Everyone is so friendly and the atmosphere is welcoming. I feel comfortable and at home here, like I belong.
On the short drive home, as I’m watching the dramatic mountains in the background, silhouetted against a bright blue sky, I think to myself how lucky I am to live here, in such a beautiful place that I can now call home.
One of my local Lake District roads
Notes from the present: This was a really good reminder for me of how I used to spend early mornings in the garden all the time. I’ve started going for early morning walks now but I don’t spend as much time in the garden as I would like. I’ve also learned since that it’s fine to let apples rot in the grass, they just compost into the soil and the grass grows back the following spring. I used to get quite stressed about what I was ‘supposed to’ do in the garden and would read up on things. But I have since realised that the garden is mostly able to take care of itself, it’s pretty resilient and if I don’t manage to do some of the chores in the garden, it manages fine without me! I’m enjoying relaxing into this a bit more and a more natural way of gardening, encouraging biodiversity, creating natural habitats such as piles of sticks and tree branches, composting mown grass (which turns into this amazing dry hay if you leave it for 6 months to a year). It’s ok if areas look a bit messy and I will just focus on the areas where I would like to plant things.