The Call of the Wild

I have a terrible hankering to be in the wilderness somewhere. A desperate longing in fact. I want to stand on a mountain or hillside and look at a sweeping view. I want to look at miles of space and not see any sign of human habitation. I want to see forest and lakes. I want that feeling of awe and freedom it gives you. I want to feel the earth, smell the rain, hear the silence and wonder at the power of nature. To be surrounded by the raw elements.

I feel hemmed in by suburbia even though I live in a rural village. It's too tame, too busy, too crowded. I live in the South East of England within 50 miles of London and there definitely isn't any wilderness anywhere near here. Nor any within driving distance. Even our recent trip to North Norfolk which did have some wild elements has not satisfied my longing. I would love to move to Canada, The Pacific Northwest, North East USA or New Zealand and live in a log cabin on a farm somewhere but I am too close to my family to even contemplate moving so far away.

We are planning on moving next Spring as they are building two houses on an old garden right next to ours and we feel very crowded and overlooked. It is bad enough being in a cul-de-sac but at least being at the end we had some space. Not anymore. Our garden is so small (20ft x 30ft) it doesn't really offer that sense of outdoor space that I need. I dream of finding a detached cottage with a big garden and no neighbours to feel some of that sense of nature around me. However in this area they are waaaaaay beyond our tiny budget. In fact anything decent is beyond us. But a large garden is my number one priority followed by a rural / isolated location. Maybe we should try buying a plot of land and a caravan! It would suit me but I'm not sure hubby would agree.

I was looking at Amanda's beautiful photos of Maine on Soule Mama and I am deeply envious. Maine looks truly beautiful. I don't care that it snows all winter, I love snow and they have lovely hot summers! I am really jealous of the sense of space they have. The forests, national parks, coastline and mountains.

I love American literature and especially books about small town America (a la Garrison Keillor) or the wilderness. I read Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London when I was a kid and loved them. And Little House on the Prairie of course. Nowadays I adore anything by Annie Proulx and also the Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy. At the moment I am part of the way through Dee Brown's Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee - about the genocide of the Native American Indians. It's excellent and deeply moving.

So for the moment I guess I'll just have to keep getting my fix of wilderness through my books.

If you go down to the woods today....

..you'll find Alex and me hanging out under the trees and feeding the ducks. Chris was away in Amsterdam at a gig at the weekend so Alex and I had time to just potter about and enjoy each others company. This past weekend was gorgeous. The sun was shining, there was a fresh breeze (autumn is on the way) and the light had that clear blue intensity that you get in the winter.

Alex and I went to feed the ducks down at the old ford in a nearby village on Saturday morning and in the afternoon we made banana loaf together before heading down the lane for another walk. We spent the evening listening for owls and we even saw a fox cross the field at dusk. The fox is now called Olga after the fox in Cluck O Clock. On Sunday morning it was a quick trip to a local car boot sale for some wooden toys (see previous posts). In the late afternoon we went to the forest for a long walk around the lake, some monkeying about in the trees and some more duck feeding.

I love these weekends. I am happiest when I am outside somewhere wild and peaceful. I think Alex is the same.

Foraging

Alex and I spent a large part of the weekend blackberry and cobnut (hazelnut) picking in the little country lanes around our village. We came home happy, bags full of loot and with hands and faces covered in black sticky juice. I never knew you could eat cobnuts raw but they taste a bit like crunchy peas and they are delicious in salads (thanks to Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and a timely article in the Guardian). I am also letting them dry out before roasting them so I can use them in cakes etc around Christmas time. I think the rainy summer has helped the fruit this year as everywhere seems to be bursting with produce. Apparently it is a great year for apples as well. One thing we do well in England is apples - tart, crispy, bursting with juice. I can't wait for harvest time. I dream of one day having a garden big enough for some fruit trees; plums, apples, pears. My grandfather's garden in Scotland had a great orchard and some of my happiest memories are picking fruit and making crumble with Grandma. My parents have a large garden with fruit trees so I hope Alex enjoys his time at their house doing much the same things as I did. It is so immensely satisfying to grow, pick and cook your own. My Mum also makes great jam and chutney from their fruit trees which I treasure like liquid gold.