Spring time walk

Walks are keeping us sane!

We love to walk in times of no lockdown but usually head to the coast or to 'somewhere more interesting'. These days with no driving to walks allowed we are rediscovering or even discovering for the first time our local walks and there are quite a few.

It may be that these walks get less interesting the longer we are restricted to them, but as spring is doing it's thing so far they have been pretty different each time.

And things have definitely moved from early spring to full on Spring in Cornwall this week.

Suddenly the primroses are vying with other contenders:

Wild Lunaria Annua, or Honesty, which gives us lovely papery 'moon pennies' in the autumn...

yellow Deadnettle with its beautifully marked leaves...

the first signs of Cowparsley...

and the frothiest Blackthorn blossom (flowers before it has leaves), the sloe harvest should be good this year!

Forget-me-nots are showing their faces...

 fur bobs and catkins...

and the brightest, freshest green of the Hawthorn or May (gets leaves before it flowers - although the buds are all ready!!)

And swathes and swathes of Wild Garlic, or Ramsons as it's known here in Cornwall.

So in the true lockdown, foraging spirit I pick a load and decided to make some Wild Garlic pesto.

I picked a good handful of the newest leaves and flowers and whizzed them up with parmesan, pine nuts, lemon juice and oil and hey pesto (see what I did there?😏)...

delicious fresh tasting pesto! I based mine on a BBC Good Food recipe here although I'm not sure it needed the extra garlic clove - it was quite strong enough. Probably good that we're not mingling too much with others at the moment! 

Anyway it was an easy supper and something new and given that there appears to be a huge amount of food being consumed at the moment it's good to have something healthy. Did I mention that food is keeping us occupied? Walks for sanity, food for everything else - we may have to be rolled out on our walks soon given that globetrotting eldest now has a lockdown baking roster!!😋

Not quite sure what I'm doing with my legs here - but from my family (together at last) to your family I send the best of wishes and hope you are safe and well. Hopefully your good days are, if not outweighing your difficult days, at least balancing them out. 

It is a difficult time for all and it would be wrong to pretend that we are all cheery and happy all the time. There are frustrations, irritations and deep anxieties, but I saw a quote from Terry Waite, who spent 1776 days (that's over 4 years) in a room on his own blindfolded. He said:

Keep your own dignity - get out of your PJs!

Form a structure for the day

Be grateful for what you have - shelter, home, possessions

Read and be creative

Change your mindset,

You're not stuck at home,

You're Safe at home

So I am trying (but not always succeeding) to change my mindset. I'm also massively grateful that we are lucky enough to be together and have a garden and quiet lanes in which to walk, and I'm trying hard not to judge others. We are all getting through this the best way we can. 

That said please don't come to Cornwall for Easter - we'd love to see you soon just not right now.

x💚💚💚💚x