Spring Glimmers

... plus a recipe for lemon and honey drizzle cake 🍋 and news of a Spring flower workshop 🌼

As April approaches, the Spring Equinox has been and gone, here in the UK the clocks have just gone forward, it’s Mothering Sunday, and Easter is just a couple of weeks away. Phew! It feels like “proper” Spring has arrived: the sun is starting to actually feel warm on our backs and there’s optimism in the air. Now feels like a very good time to ever so gently reset after what feels like a very long Winter - so I thought I’d share some slow ways that I’ll be celebrating Spring this coming month and searching for simple, seasonal glimmers each day.

Making Spring Posies

It’s no secret that I love flowers - with a name like mine, I feel my flower-loving fate was predestined! There are so many wonderful blooms to look forward to as the growing season begins in earnest: daffodils, ranunculus, tulips, forget-me-nots, anemones… I thoroughly enjoy using Spring flowers to make jam jar posies, which bring so much cheer dotted around the house - a daily reminder of fresh beginnings and all the hope symbolised by Spring.

I share step by step instructions for how to make a Spring posy in my book, ‘Slow Seasons’, plus if you’re local I’d love it if you joined me to arrange our own jam jar flowers together! I’m co-hosting a Half Day Slow Living Beltane Retreat on 4th May with Wild Tide Yoga in the beautiful Tyninghame Village Hall - Aimée will be leading yoga and breathwork sessions, I’ll be reading from ‘Slow Seasons’ and then I’ll guide you to make your own stunning Spring posy with flowers grown in Edinburgh by Ochre Botanical Studios!

I’d so love it if you could join us - all the details and tickets are here.

If you live further away in the UK and would be interested in doing a seasonal workshop, let me know and I’ll see what I can do as I’ll soon be planning a wee tour… Pic below from my Spring workshop last year with Toast.

Microdoses of Nature

I’m sure that many of us would like to spend more time fully immersed in wild and beautiful nature, but also have busy lives and responsibilities that can tie us to the city and to home. Since having Baby L I’ve been making a real effort to mindfully notice and soak up the small doses of nature on my third floor, city doorstep. The sound of birdsong from the sparrows nesting in an old flue below our kitchen window; the scent of flowering currant in the sunshine on a quick walk round the block; watching the sun make its way round the kitchen and feeling its growing warmth; taking a detour on a trip out on errands to pass my favourite blossoming trees; opening the window and just breathing in deeply. There’s so much to take in with all your senses, even in the heart of the city and I encourage you to spend some time this week doing the same. My seasonal Nature Notes in ‘Slow Seasons’ are a good reference point if you’re not sure what to look for. It’s amazing what you can notice when you slow down and really pay attention.

Spring Journaling

Each week I set aside time to journal before I write when I meet with the wonderful Kerri ní Dochartaigh and her Oak Mothers (details on Kerri’s Instagram) for an online writing circle and it’s amazing what committing your swirling thoughts to paper can do for a busy brain like mine (not to mention meeting with like-minded women). Even if you can’t commit to a weekly journal, I find checking in with myself at the start of each turn in the season is a great way to process and set gentle intentions for the coming months so I encourage you to do the same. Think about what you want to leave behind in Winter and the things you want to grow and nurture in the season ahead. I shared some prompts for doing just this with my subscriber community here - I’d love it if you joined us!

Decluttering

Spring cleaning is a cliché, but a satisfying one all the same. These last couple of weeks I have been having an ongoing, major decluttering session, focusing on my wardrobe. Almost a year postpartum, so many of my clothes no longer feel “me” - instead, they’re like portals to past selves who no longer match how I feel inside in this season of life. Five big bags ferried to the charity shop later, and a wee pile to maybe sell if I can find the time (I’ll be sure to share on my Instagram if I do - there are some vintage gems, they’re just not my style any more!) and I’m feeling so much lighter heading into Spring and Summer for letting go of the clutter of those past selves. But you don’t have to have a huge sort or clean to feel the difference - I find smaller, daily or weekly sorts are much more achievable these days - choose just one wee area to concentrate on, like a drawer or the stack of papers by the door, a kitchen surface or any area that accumulates the mess of daily life.

Lemon and Honey Drizzle Cake

As ever, embracing seasonal flavours in the kitchen is a key way that I ground myself in the time of year. There are so many ingredients coming into season in the coming weeks that are real glimmers for me: purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus, new potatoes… In this month’s recipe, I’m embracing the last of the Winter citrus alongside the fresh sweetness of Spring honey in my lemon and honey drizzle cake. It balances sweet and sour flavours: first a lemon hit, then the aromatic floral notes of honey in a drizzle as well as a light and airy buttercream. To make the cake, you will need:

175g self-raising flour
175g caster sugar
175g unsalted butter
3 large free-range eggs, beaten
Zest of a lemon and one tbsp juice.
For the drizzle:
30 ml honey
60ml lemon juice.
For the buttercream:
100g butter
220g icing sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
Zest of a lemon (half for the buttercream, half to decorate)
Honeycomb, to decorate (optional).

Preheat the oven to fan 160C/ 180C/ Gas 4 and grease and line two 18cm round cake tins.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then gradually add the eggs and lemon juice with a little of the flour.

Fold in the remaining flour and zest and pour the mixture into the prepared tins, levelling the surface.

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until golden and firm to the touch.

Make the drizzle by heating the lemon juice and honey in a small pan, then prick the surface of each cake with a skewer and pour the drizzle evenly over the surface. Cool in the tins.

Meanwhile, make the buttercream by creaming together the butter and icing sugar until very light and fluffy – almost white in colour. Add the honey and lemon juice and zest and beat again until combined.

Use half the buttercream to sandwich the cooled cakes together and decorate the top with the other half, along with a little lemon zest and honeycomb around the edges.

If you enjoy my monthly seasonal newsletters, do consider joining us in my paid subscriber community for weekly posts. Together in this wee corner of the Internet we are creating a beautiful community of like-minded old souls who want to slow down, simplify and connect with the seasons. Here’s a flavour of what I’ve been posting over there this last month:

DIY Bird Seed Feeders

An Ode to the Daffodil

Rhubarb, Brown Butter and Stem Ginger Cookies

Ostara Reflections

Sow, Grow, Harvest, Rest Reading Group: March

And if you’ve enjoyed my newsletter I’d love it if you could share it too to help me spread the word:

Thanks so much for reading, and see you next month xxx

p.s. Slow Seasons is filled with seasonal crafts, recipes, nature notes and celebrations inspired by my Scottish heritage and if you enjoy this newsletter I think you’ll love it! I follow the progress of the year through each mini season, from Imbolc at the start of the year to Yule at the end and the book is beautifully illustrated by Holly Ovenden throughout. You can read more about it in this post and you can order ‘Slow Seasons’ here.