Little Green and the Flower Moon

(the feeling of May)

If ever there was a month that feels like every sense is at its most intense, it is May. The temperature is perfect. Without the consuming heat of the summer—which seems to crowd out all nuance from other sensory experiences—it feels like there’s a chance to notice more texture and depth.

On this full flower moon, I’ve been revelling in the headiness and intensity that May brings. It feels like nature at full volume; a heightened state that ordinarily I would rarely seek out.

This is my meander through the month. Join me?

SOUND

The birds in the churchyard. A goldfinch chorus, with harmonies from the blackbirds, robins and blue tits.

A local chalk stream. Crystal clear waters, with a heron silently presiding.

The bells and the crows.

SCENT

Earthy and pungent, the smell greets you before anything else. The wild garlic is food in bloom.
Fresh morning rain and clear air.
Powdery sweet and slightly sour, the hawthorn blossom carries on the wind. 
Tomato leaves that imprint their tang on skin with the slightest of brushes.
Cow parsley, savoury and milky.

TOUCH

Hands in soil, fingers becoming roots.
Smooth, tender leaves with the floppiness of cotton. Soothing to stroke and cool to touch.
The tickle of a ramson flower while gathering leaves.
Shirts and no coats, breeze finding its way through thin fabric.
Soft, cushion-like mosses. A place to rest.

SIGHT

Vivid hyper-real greens.
Filtered light through beech leaves.
Buzzards with prey in claws.
Chaffinches and coal tits makings homes in the garden. Starlings seeking mahonia berries.
Shadows and sunlit patterns under canopies of hornbeams.
Bats in twilight under pink-tinged skies. 

TASTE (a recipe)

Wild Garlic Tapenade, the taste of the woods in spring. 

Ingredients:
300-350g wild garlic leaves, soaked in water for half an hour then gently cleaned
75g hazelnuts (with or without the skin)
100mls extra virgin olive oil
Half a hand-squeezed lemon
1 heaped tablespoon of capers
2 teaspoons of smoked sea salt (or to taste)

Method:
Add all the ingredients to a food processor, mini chopper or pestle and mortar (in batches if necessary).
Grind until the mixture resembles a coarse paste (avoid over-grinding to a puree).
Serve fresh with cheese and crackers or crunchy raw salad vegetables.
This tastes lovely with a mature cheddar and nutty crackers.
Keeps for up to two weeks in the fridge and it can also be frozen.

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