The Farm Diaries

#5 Breakfast Curry and a reminder to slow down

This week’s recipe is an idea that’s been brewing for a while. A fragrant curry base, quickly brought together with curry leaf, ginger and whole spices. You cook it down with coconut milk to get a wonderful sauce, that you then fry eggs in much like Shakshuka for a speedy breakfast curry with lemony basmati rice. It is absolutely delicious! And a curry base that works with so much more, use it with chopped grilled chicken thighs, some gently cooked white fish, or even simply with boiled potato and spinach.

But first, a reminder to slow down. For a while now, I’ve been going through life at entirely the wrong pace.

Restoring an old house, lambing season, 4 months of bottle-feeding kid goats, work, the pressures of social media, filming videos, managing builders … all while living in the chaos of a building site. It’s a lot to juggle.

They are all individually wonderful things, but collectively it has been a lot and I’ve been drowning under the weight of it for a while now. Totally overwhelmed by a list as long as my arm. And I’ve been wondering… is it just a state of mind?

The other evening I got back from a long day. Part of me wanted to just sit down and crash, but there was such a stunning evening unfurling, I wasn’t ready to pack it in. A gentle breeze, the birds twinkling, sheep calling their lambs on the wind and the sky a warm pink. My car is in a state at the moment, as are many things in my life, filled with tools, lambing gear, sacks of feed and piles of hay, so I decided to give it a clear out while enjoying the view under a setting sun. Tidy car… tidy mind.

We have a skip outside the house for the building project, (more on that soon), so I drove the car up beside it to drop off a few things and began unloading and sweeping out a load of crud. Then all the sheep who are lambing in the field next to me heard the car, thought it was feeding time, and came over to stand by the fence calling loudly with 40 playful lambs in tow. This completely sidetracked me, who could resist. So I grabbed a sack of feed and went over to the most beautiful flock of sheep the world has ever seen.

In the low light thousands of bugs flittered in rays of sun above them, the grass electric green and vibrant, huge oaks with leaves unfurling towering over hedges frothing with blackthorn blossom. Lambs gambolled around the field (one of my favourite words), hopping, springing and chasing each other in a great line, followed by worried mothers desperate to keep them close. Often I would take this in for a few minutes, but then head elsewhere, worrying about what’s next, I’d feed them and carry on with whatever task. This time however, the majesty of such a night dug its claws in deep and urged me to properly take it in. I sat down, took a breath and really watched, breathing it in. Warm sun on my face, curious lambs edging themselves closer to me and Bramble, a tame ewe who I bottle-fed a few years back, nudging at me to open the sack of feed. A woodpecker was hammering away on a dying ash in the wood below us. I noticed two truly awesome oak trees standing next to each other, one with no leaves out, the other almost in full leaf with pollen tassels hanging from every branch and I enjoyed the first returning swallows gliding above the field and catching bugs.

I felt myself slow down… but also noticed the power of a busy mind interrupting my presence in such a beautiful moment. So I decided, damn the car and spent the next two hours ambling around the farm, walking along hedges and paths and hopping over streams in a random route with no aim, fully taking it in. Bluebells, anemones and campions. A huge beech tree growing in a mossy bank above a ditch. A stream flowing right through its roots, creating a deep trench around it with a small cave, 6ft deep. I tiptoed through a wildflower meadow I planted last year in a field that had been used for maize for decades, stepping around all the little wildflower seedlings coming up, like the most complicated game of tic tac toe ever played. I spent two blissful hours, with no agenda, no plan, captivated by the majesty of nature, focussed entirely on beautiful little things, determined not to worry about a list of all the things I haven’t done. To stay present, breathe and be mindful.

I am a very relaxed person by nature. I am at my best in my own company and I spend most of my life outside, doing things that I love. But as I said earlier, recently things just haven’t been quite right. I’m not at my best. A big part of that is that I am in quite a complicated phase of life, I’ve taken on too much and need to simplify. But it’s funny the things I’ve taken on, I love and am extraordinarily grateful for. I don’t want to feel overwhelmed by it, I want to enjoy it. And I wonder, that evening, walking around the fields - maybe I could treat every day like that? All the little moments through the day and the lists, if I approach them like I’m ambling around the field, maybe that feeling of overwhelm will become one of joy and peace.

So just a message to anyone who this resonates with… slow right down. I think so many of us are living in survival mode! Frantically jumping from one thing to the next. Whereas actually we just need to be. Want less, worry less and do less.

I want to just be.

Three things I encourage.