Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
30th November 2024
Who’s Boss
Nature may have been kind gifting us with a long, mild and gentle autumn but it doesn’t take long to change all that. As Storm Bert certainly did last weekend, and hot on the heels of Jack Frost’s debut too. One weekend I was working in a t-shirt, admiring out-of-season blooms and the following week saw me unable to get into my truck until 9 am as it was ‘locked’ with frost, and Llangattock and Crickhowell became islands with all roads in and out under water.
It is a reminder of what a powerful ‘boss’, the weather is and the respect we should have for it. As Giulio Boccaletti, former Chief Strategy Officer & Global Ambassador for Water wrote recently for The Nature Conservancy, “There is no doubt humanity has inflicted untold damage on the world’s ecosystems. Our footprint is everywhere. Homo sapiens is the only species in Earth’s long history to have been able to fundamentally alter the geochemical cycles that regulate the planet in a mere few decades. The narrative of nature’s fragility misses something important. Nature acts on the planet on a scale that dwarfs most human processes. The Earth’s powerful climate system is a case in point. The impact it has on every person in the world makes clear one basic fact: We are small, we are fragile, we are the ones at risk.”
I agree wholeheartedly with Claude Monet, especially after I ‘came off’ all social media two years ago in preference to ‘keeping myself to myself’. The French painter confided, “My wish is to stay always like this, living quietly in a corner of nature.”
Oil Be Blowed
If, like me you had a disappointing veggie harvest this year (and are still talking about it), spare a thought for olive farmers. As an olive oil consumer, I have certainly noticed a difference in price.
Apparently in 2021, a 500ml bottle of Filippo Berio extra virgin would have cost £3.75, whereas today, it will set you back £10 – a whopping 166% increase. The main reason is – again – the weather. Crops of olives have been damaged by early heat-waves and droughts, as well as later flooding.
The weather has also meant an increase in pests and diseases, and with the trees being even more vulnerable with their health having already been compromised and weakened.
Waterproof Clothing
Storm Bert did give me an opportunity to test my new waterproof over-trousers. I have to say, they passed the test with flying colours.
Working outside whatever the weather, means you forge a whole different relationship with clothing. It has to be appropriate clothing. I have more or less conquered the cold, (especially with the heated waistcoat I mentioned last week), the extreme heat is virtually unconquerable (and very much out of sight and mind at the moment) and it’s the wet weather that is always testing. Warm and wet weather is OK because you can just go home and dry out but cold and wet is just miserable.
Betacraft’s waterproof bib and braces definitely help to minimise that misery. Not only are they completely waterproof, as tested by kneeling in mud and shallow water to clear blocked drains, but they are also toasty warm. I haven’t used a bib and brace before but they are definitely warmer than just the over-trousers and keep the small of your back nice and warm. And they give you somewhere to tuck your hands in at the front, like a built-in hand muff.
Described as, ‘Waterproof, comfortable and reliable. The origins of Betacraft are in battling the harshest of New Zealand’s weather while being worn by some of the world’s most enduring workers – farmers and growers. They’re the people who know the sting of freezing rain on your face and the chill from relentless wind at your back. The people who are connected to the land and seasons, working through any weather.’
So it’s no surprise that they were recommended by one of the farm boys on site, who spends the spring lambing and who has found them to be completely water and mud (and other liquid) proof. But it is only now that I have actually tested mine in earnest. I can highly recommend. More details and clothing at www.betacraftworkwear.com
Emoji-nation
I recently read about The Unicode Consortium – which I must admit as a speed reader I read as Unicorn Consortium. However, far from being able to do the magical things that mythical horned horses can, The Unicode Consortium effectively governs which characters and symbols are used on everyone’s keyboards.
It has just revealed its long list of proposed new emojis for next year. They include a bug-eyed face, a cartoon ‘fight cloud’, a ballet dancer, an apple core, an orca, a bigfoot-inspired ‘hairy creature’, a trombone, boulders rolling down a mountain, and a treasure chest.
I just can’t for the life of me see the point in most (or any) of those or even how and where they would be used, but it did spark a comical conversation in work about how a gardener would be depicted in an emoji – needless to say bad backs, knees and arthritis featured strongly.
Doom and Bloom
A friend recently recommended the book ‘Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart.’ It is a challenging read and in fact the author warns: “If you are already on the edge of a narrow ledge of anxiety and depression because of personal challenges, illnesses or grief, this book is not for you, at least not right now. You have enough on your plate and this book will still be here when you have less on your plate.”
He also notes, “Many of our friends and family may not seem very concerned. They think there is something seriously wrong with anyone who would pick up a book called ‘Life After Doom’. They see our sense of dread as a character flaw or even a mood disorder.”
I had a similar response from people when I read the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying but I felt that once you understand death a bit more, life makes more sense too. Other people say that when you can accept that death is inevitable, it allows you to live more fully.
Prior to reading Life After Doom, I finished ‘The Expectation Effect’, which explains how expectations form your future, and which you may think would result in me avoiding a book on ‘doom’, but it’s all about perspective. After so many of my conversations ending with, ‘The world’s going mad’, reading this book made me want to ‘live now’ and enjoy whatever it is we do have left.
So despite her mood swings, I will continue to spend as much time as possible out in nature, working alongside her in various gardens and guises – and writing about it all.
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