Kia ora dear reader.
This blog post is brought to you by plants! Autumn is my favourite season, and around here it's marked by walnuts and feijoas from our family orchard, marigolds in the garden and neighbourhood walks to forage blackberries and bits and pieces for the table. Last weekend was Easter, and we had three little nieces staying for the short holiday. They helped me collect various cuttings from the garden for our Easter lunch table, including dried toitoi, kawakawa leaves, ferns, tiny daisies and bits of tansy and rosemary. I had to take a photo for the blog!
It was the perfect time of year to read Helen Lehndorf's new memoir, A Forager's Life. I adored it and found myself rationing pages to make it last longer! If you're interested in medicinal plants, gardening and gathering, I think you will enjoy it. As well as being a personal story about Helen's life as a daughter and mother, there are recipes and activities to expand your plant knowledge and experience. I found it was like reading a letter from a friend and I suppose it was! Helen and I were pen-friends for years while our kids were small. Helen also mentions a book called Street Flowers by Richard Mabey which I realised I already owned. When I opened up my copy, I found a five-year-old letter from Helen, explaining that she'd found it in a book sale but already had a copy, but thought I'd like it. I do - it's beautiful!
I wanted to mark my 40th birthday literally with a tattoo and it took me a couple of years to actually do it (due to Covid lockdowns and various other things) - I"m now 42! I settled on a marigold design because they've always been one of my favourite flowers - as a kid I had a little book of birthstones and flowers and marigolds were October's. These flowers have become a kind of symbol of my childhood in my mind, representing long afternoons spent outside playing and collecting seeds. The smell of the seeds and flowers instantly transports me to early childhood.
I was scrolling on Instagram one afternoon when I saw that Caera of Perpetua Studio was starting out with marigold tattoos and the next day, a friend visited and brought with him the huge bunch of orange marigolds you see above. So I felt that it was my time to book in and get my permanent marigold. Caera did an excellent job (the photo above is also by her) - I highly recommend her work and she also specialises in botanical silk printing which is very beautiful. Look at these pillowcases, for example!
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I've not made tons of time for sewing and knitting lately. I have lots of plans though, so watch this space! I have included at the top of this post some pictures of a dress I sewed up a few weeks ago. I made this to wear to work and based it entirely on a dress I saw someone wearing on the bus. I had 2 metres of a beautiful soft green linen-hemp from The Fabric Store and had to play around with the bodice shape a bit before I was happy with it. I must admit, it did remind me that I prefer the ease of sewing with a pattern. But the finished dress fits me well and I've already had a lot of wear from it - I like it with a plain black top underneath, pinafore-style.
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Other very good things from this past month have been:
Making this super simple, lemony loaf for friends and family. I reduce the sugar a bit but make extra hot lemon syrup to pour over the top as soon as it comes out of the oven. So good with a cup of tea!
This beautiful Laura Marling album. I love this song the best.
This entire collection of Nancybird clothes, using artwork by my friend Lizzie. I'm still deciding which piece I'll buy!
Seeing Kurt Vile live here in Wellington with Tom! I love Kurt Vile. That is all.
Eating fresh feijoas every day and dreaming of winter knitting projects.
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I hope you are finding time for the projects you have in mind. I wish you a very happy April and will see you again here soon.
Love,
Melissa