This passion with everything seasonal constantly grew, and the couple became curious about the effects of the seasons. So one day, when the couple pondered ‘Could you travel at the speed of spring?’, they decided to take some time to find out.

The result is Chasing Spring, a documentary website where they aim to find out what happens when spring moves up the UK.

Starting at Land’s End, the couple are taking two months to travel up to John o’Groats on their bikes, interviewing people as they go to find out how spring changes things.

.

The Chasing Spring Documentary

Chasing Spring is full of videos, blog posts and photos, along with regular Twitter and Facebook updates on the pair’s adventure.

A recent update by Izzy details everything from the cycling facilities and roads of Bristol, to the little changes in nature that she notices while on her bike. It’s beautifully written, and Izzy paints such a clear picture that you feel like you’re there.

Matt’s updates have a more humourous edge, and his interest seems to be more firmly rooted in the impact on the people he meets. There’s content there for everyone to enjoy and find something of interest.

.

The ripple effect

It’s not all about Matt and Izzy though. There’s a community page which allows visitors to add their own pictures of spring. Story submissions are encouraged too.

The thing I really love about Chasing Spring, is that it makes you stop and look around your own environment for signs of spring.

Yesterday, during a dog walk, I took the time to notice the cherry blossom tree behind my house, and the daffodils popping up along the lane.

It’s one of the most exciting seasons, so it’s great that Izzy and Matt can encourage more of us to stop and observe all the changes.

Are you following Chasing Spring? Have you noticed the signs of spring?

Image: [michelle brunner]

Foraging for wild food is the cheapest and most adventurous way to source ingredients for a spot of Slow Cooking. It’s also sustainable as its local and seasonal grub – you just need to know what you’re looking for and, like the Zen philosophy, only take what you need, leaving the strong plantlife to propagate.  It’s a simple activity and easy to reach by bike – all you need is some patience, a few cardboard cartons or reusable bags, a pair of scissors and some gardening or washing up gloves.

So what are you waiting for? Get on your bike and forage this bank holiday for the season’s delectable collection of wild garlic, dandelion, nettle and more!

If you’re a beginner, jorg&olif has picked its favourite foraging books and courses in the UK to give you a head start.

Seaweed and Eat it: A Family Foraging and Cooking Adventure by Xa Milne and Fiona Houston

For months my dad was harping on about this book, so much so that he ended up going on a Forage Rangers tour run by the authors in Scotland. He came back with even more effervescence and  I can see why. It’s a book with inspired ideas and recipes as well as providing a friendly and comfy romp into natural history.

The Wild Life: A Year of Living on Wild Food by John Lewis-Stempel

This is a book showing a spiritual journey of the seasons month by month, with Lewis-Stempel as the hunter-gatherer in modern times. It’s the perfect Slow Life read and is the perfect call to action for some bank holiday fun.

The Forager Handbook by Miles Irving

I had the pleasure of my first forage with Irving in the autumn around Hampstead Heath, where I ended up with a secretly foraged dinner that included delicious nettle pesto and sorrel salad. Irving’s handbook is as down to earth and as interesting as the man himself, with each plants’ monograph  carefully categorised and accompanied with recipes and gorgeous photography.

All these Wild Food books and more are available at the Low Impact Living Initiative bookshop.

Wild Man Wild Food

With a fan base including Chris Evans and from the man who has attempted to live entirely on 100% wild and foraged food for a whole year, Fergus Drennan’s personal blog pays humorous homage to his efforts.
Drennan also offers eight to 13 hour forages in different habitats including woodland, field, river, seashore and brown field sites (waste ground) across Canterbury and surrounding areas. Once the food is collected, cooking commences on an open fire for a truly wild feast.

Really Wild Festival

Within Britain’s smallest city, the annual Really Wild Food and Countryside Festival in Pembrokeshire is a great way to get everyone in the family involved in foraging around the Welsh countryside. It aims to preserve, revive and hand on countryside traditions and stories for generations to come.

Wild Forage UK

Fraser Christian, a qualified professional chef, experienced outdoor instructor and forager is joined by experts Vicky Prevett formally with Neal’s Yard Remedies, Tom Litchfield a qualified marine biologist and wild food fan, Chris Tall a graduate in wild food for medicine and Robin Hansford from Eat Weeds for a truly wild experience. The Wild Forage UK courses run across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Pembrokeshire, Sussex and West Wales. Christian also provides “Catch and Cook” sessions for aspiring anglers and seafoodies.

Wild Food School
Join the outdoor classroom and get an education in weeds with the Wild Food School in Cornwall. Run by Marcus Harrison, you can enjoy half day, full day, week long and even distance learning courses that are bespoke to your requirements (and geography) and level of understanding.

Image: foxypar4

Just as fruit and veg is tastiest when it’s in season, flowers are at their best and most beautiful when they’re locally sourced and at their natural peak.

While it’s possible to fly in flora grown out-of-season from all over the world, it’s so much more environmentally sound to source it closer to home. It’s also so much nice and more grounding to have flowers around us that we already associate with spring in the spring.

So other than daffodils, which blooms are reaching their peak in March? Most flowers that are in season now are characteristically ‘delicate’ varieties, many of which you’ll probably already associate with Easter, Mother’s Day and other early spring festivals.

Fresias are a popular choice for providing decoration and colour at this time of year, and their strong, sweet scent makes them particularly lovely to have around the house. There are plenty in the shops at the moment, but you can also order a bouquet direct from Lincolnshire grower Fresia.co.uk. Here, you’ll also find lilies, which are another winter-blooming plant. Tulips are another colourful flower that are found in abundance around now. Amyrillis (pictured above), in red or white, works particularly well as an indoor plant.

If you’d like to create your own bouquets from scratch, have a think about which smaller and shrubbier flowers are growing at this time of year, then combine these with larger blooms. Gypsophila (or ‘Baby’s Breath’)  makes a particularly versatile ‘filler’, and sunny-yellow forsythia can make a glorious contrast in your arrangement.

Image of an amyrillis by Gailf548

As the urge to clean hits us, it’s tempting to blitz the house with powerful cleaning products as a quick-fix solution to the winter clutter we’re so desperate to shake off. But there are very good reasons to avoid these chemically-laden concoctions, and learning some gentler and more time-honoured methods of housekeeping can be a rewarding exercise.

Detox your home

A good way to view the process is as a ‘detox’ for the home. While spraying surfaces with bleach will certainly annihilate any passing germs, it is also a pollutant: a fact we’ve long been programmed into missing. Having strong chemicals around the house is potentially hazardous to health (particularly with pets and small children around) and is certainly bad for the environment when you wash it back down the drain.

So what traditional methods really work? Here are some tips:

Buy in some lemons. Lemons have dozens of uses around the home, and are great for freshening up kitchen items. Use half a lemon to rub away limescale on draining boards, then polish with a dry cloth for a shiny finish. You can use the other half either to freshen up your dishwasher (just jam it in an upright position during a wash) or to soak up odours in your fridge.

Vinegar is another home-cleaning ally that’s great for spring cleaning. You can dilute it 50/50 in water for an effective window cleaning fluid (store it in a spray bottle for ease of use), spruce up your crockery collection by rubbing them with a dab of neat vinegar or even make a potent floor cleaning solution with sweet herbs: see the recipe here.

Tool up. If you’re low on tools, don’t stock up on cheap, plasticky gadgets that will need endless ‘refills’: consider ordering in some hard-wearing, traditional mops, brooms and brushes from an artisan store like Labour and Wait or Bailey’s Home and Garden. Both sell visually beautiful items that will last you through many springs to come.

If you don’t have time to make your own products, there are now plenty of effective earth-friendly products available to buy ready-made. The Method range is consistently good, and Maison Belle makes some delicately fragranced products that are so beautifully packaged you’ll want to keep them on display – quite unlike their luridly-coloured, mass market competitors! The cucumber scented Spring Cleaner (£3.95) is particularly recommended.

Spain’s Basque region is particularly beautiful between March and April, and the easy rail and ferry links into Bilbao make it an ideal Slow Life destination.

As with any Slow Life break, getting there is half the fun. Opt to travel by sea, and you’ll get all the benefits of a ‘mini-cruise’ experience with plenty of time to unwind, stretch your legs and relax as you start your holiday the gradual way. Many travellers on this route report sightings of dolphins and whales as they sail through the Atlantic. P&O currently offer a service departing from Portsmouth, but be warned that they plan to withdraw it in September.

By rail, there is the option of travelling via Eurostar to Paris and overnight train, taking about 15 hours in total. The sleeper trains are comfortable, and make for an unforgettable experience for those who don’t immediately succumb to sleep!

Once you’ve arrived, there’s a wealth of things to see and do in Spain’s largest Basque city. Don’t worry if you haven’t come by car: it’s not a great city to drive in, and the subway system makes it quite easy to get around. Aside from the well-documented visual delights of the Guggenheim (which deserves an entire day in itself if you want to experience the sights and the two excellent restaurants), there’s plenty of scope for pottering around as you discover this area of ‘green Spain’ with its bracing views and clear skies – a real delight for the senses after a gloomy British winter.

One such opportunity is provided by the seven streets of the Casco Viejo: an area renowned for its open air food markets, with artisan produce from around the region. Here, you’ll find the sort of exceptionally fresh and juicy fruit and vegetables we can only dream of growing back home. For a relaxing walk, visit the Plaza Moyua, with its attractive boxed flower displays, and the river provides scenic walks, letting you take in the city’s stunning, decorative architecture.

Image: Dalbera