Hello Spring 🌷

Happy April everyone! If you’re reading this in the UK then you’ll know we have been blessed by the most beautiful start to spring ☀️ It was somewhat alarming to feel that warm so early on in March ( wonder why that could be… 🤔) but it is gorgeous to have some sunlight and feel slightly less vitamin deficient. A new season brings with it a new energy, so if you’re looking for some ideas to fill up your season and that is kind to the planet I’ve rounded up a few ideas, just in case opening an oil pipeline or starting a trade war aren’t your thing…

• The other day while I had breakfast, I watched a few different birds run around my garden collecting up any soft/wispy/light nesting material. It was such a beautiful moment to know that your house and garden aren’t only yours, but support so much life too. If you’re lucky enough to have a garden, we can all help by making sure our gardens have lots of natural material available for wildlife and that we aren’t too quick to make it neat and tidy. As they say, life is the messy bits. Keep dried materials, grasses, any feathers or sheep’s wool that has blown in accessible in your garden so that it can be repurposed into a nest for the next generation of visitors to your garden. It feels so good to share 💕

• I don’t know about you, but I always associated Spring with new life, nature and the joys of Easter, rather than tariffs and censorship, but hey, maybe I just had an alternative childhood. If life for you has been a bit hectic/stressful/heavy recently, maybe you can find 5 minutes at the start of this new season to make a hot drink, sit in the garden or by a window and observe the wildlife that visits your garden. The more you watch the more you see, maybe you have some regulars or there’s a pattern to their garden visits. I love to watch the interactions of a distinctive blackbird pair in my garden, and see how long it takes the jackdaws to swoop in and pick up the bits of apple core I put out after my lunch break, and wondering why the biggest bumblebee you’ve ever seen has managed to get into my house via a small window opening but can’t find the large open door. Whatever species you get and however many, this is your patch to look after so enjoy being part of your local nature. Creating a wildlife garden doesn’t save the whole world, but it save your little bit of it 🌿

• Get involved in The National Trust’s Big Blooming Break and find yourself some blossom! Is there anything some springlike than when the blossom comes out and the world erupts into tiny blooms? Whether you live in a city or in the countryside, the sight of blossom is sure to brighten up your day. You could get involved in a locally planned event, or just take your lunch break outside and eat under a tree, or go for a blossom-finding walk and take a picture when you find some. Before writing this post I walked around my garden and took a few pictures of the flowers popping up, which I will share below….

• Ditch the dryer, get out the washing line: Tumble dryers are one the most energy intensive machines in our homes and additionally release a whole load of microplastics and fibres from our clothes. They aren’t good for the planet and research shows they aren’t good for human health either. And when the weather is like this, drying clothes outside is made even easier! Additionally, drying clothes outside has lots of other benefits, including the impact of UV on killing bacteria on clothing. It’s also somewhat of a tradition, gets us outside and reduces energy use. Trust me, as someone who lives in a fairly old and cold house but doesn’t have a tumble dryer (and didn’t use one when I had access), you can absolutely function without one. But for now, make the most of the sun and get those clothes out! 🌤️

• Now sunlight hours are longer, we can use this opportunity to re-evaluate what we do with our free time. It is normal to want to come home and relax after a long day at work, but do we really want to keep doom-scrolling into this next sunny season? Do we want to give the social media people that power over our days? Maybe the longer evenings give us the opportunity to pick up a project we started, like crafting or running. Maybe instead of looking at other people’s pictures of the world, we could go for an evening walk and see our own corner of it. Maybe instead of working out inside, we could do exercises in the garden or local green spaces. Whatever it is you enjoy, while the sun is shining and nature is blooming take your opportunity to enjoy it all🌸

• Finally, this couldn’t be a spring ideas list without a spring clean! Now we have reached the end of the winter season, spend some time decluttering anything you didn’t use. Maybe it’s a jumper you said you’d wear but didn’t, a series of books that you never feel motivated to start/finish or crockery at the back of the kitchen cupboards you told yourself you’d use during party season but they never made it down. I’m the first person to admit that I find it hard to let go of things, and something I’ve had to ask myself recently is do I love it and have very sentimental memories using it? Or do I just have strong memories of buying/owning the thing? Separate your things into piles as you sort, I like to categories into: Things I love, Things I use, Things to recycle, Things to sell and Things to donate. It can be a hard task to start but it will make more room in your life for the things you love right now. And that is a lovely feeling to start the season with! 🧹

While none of these ideas are ground-breaking, I hope this inspires you to enter this new season with curiosity, kindness and energy. Let’s be there to help nature thrive and show our planet some love by living gently and intentionally for this season and always. Photographed some beautiful blossom or have your own spring tip? Let us know in the comments below! For now, have a peaceful and kind week! 💐