ISSUE 1 // JANUARY 2021 . A BEGINNING SONG . This is one of my favourite songs by the band The Decemberists. I cried when I heard it for the first time, the lyrics were exactly what I needed to hear, and continue to be every time I listen. Especially the lines: Document the world inside your skin The tenor of your shins, The timbre of your limbs. Now commence to kick each brick apart To centre on your heart Starting with your heart, bright heart. And I am waiting, should I be waiting? And I am wanting, should I be wanting? And I am hopeful, should I be hopeful? When all around me, when all around me This is a song for beginning - it is a reminder to register how it feels inside our bodies, hearts and minds. It asks us to question those never ending concerns, the things we are hoping and waiting and longing for. It moves from the inner landscape to the world around us: the singer lists the stuff of his life - but it could be my list, or yours - the life teeming around us, difficult and beautiful, so much to be thankful and hopeful for. There is something paradoxical about beginning: exciting and daunting, hopeful and overwhelming, full of promise and unknowns. When John O'Donohue in his book of blessings, Benedictus , talks about beginnings, he says: "Beginnings often frighten us because they seem like lonely voyages into the unknown. Yet, in truth, no beginning is empty or isolated..." To begin is to be willing and curious about what might happen when we start. We can plan, make great lists, work through the possibilities but none of the growth or enduring change can happen without actually beginning - and trusting that a loving God is with you every step of the way. I wonder what seasons you are beginning in your life right now. It is it a new job? Study? A new relationship or an old one that is changing? Is it an attitude or a habit, a kind way of seeing and speaking to yourself? We are all beginning a new year: wanting, wondering, hoping, worrying, dreading, picking up, letting go. "Though your destination is not clear You can trust the promise of this opening: Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning ​That is at one with your life's desire" (from John O'Donohue's "blessing for a new beginning", Benedictus , 2007) Welcome to the beginning of my newsletter: the first issue of Savour the Seasons , my name is Emily and I'm so glad you're here. Let me tell you a little about myself: I'm a thirty-one year old woman living on a 700 acre farm an hour north of Melbourne, Australia. We're here because my husband Alex manages the property and the 170 cows that graze it - we also keep around 550 chickens free-ranging on the pasture for beautiful, fresh eggs which we supply local cafes and restaurants with, as well as sell at farmers markets each month. We are passionate about farming in a regenerative way using practices that help promote diversity and resilience in the soil, pasture, animals and trees. We have three sons aged four, five and eight: they are loud, rambunctious, kind, thoughtful, interesting people with a love of books and being outdoors which gladdens my heart. It's no secret that I love to read - especially fiction, memoir, poetry and history books, or that I love growing and picking flowers, drinking cups of tea in deep, thin-rimmed mugs, drawing with blue pens, listening to the sound of banjo, accordion, the occasional heavy metal album or silence even, walking at dusk, knitting on my lap, cool breeze in my hair. Each month I will put together an email like this: a soup of thoughts, photographs, recipes, drawings, contemplative faith and poems to help you slow down and savour the seasons with me. My hope is that it will allow for a longer conversation and deeper connection. I'd love to hear back from you. Where are you reading this? What can you see from your windows? How would you like to savour the seasons this year? What would you find helpful or interesting to read about? Emily x . to contemplate . - What does the word "beginning" conjure in your mind? What are you beginning in your life/work/home/relationships? ​ - What feelings has the beginning of 2021 brought up for you? - Listen to the song "A Beginning Song" by The Decemberists : you can watch it here - Do any of the lyrics resonate with you? Which ones? . - Contemplate the bible verse in Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end​... and in Proverbs 16:9 A man's heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps - Consider these words of author Madeleine L'Engle: “I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly.”​ . from the recipe book . Summertime Clafoutis ​A light French dessert which is basically a baked custard with whatever seasonal fruit you like. In spring try cherries or raspberries, for summer apricots, plums, blackberries, for autumn apple or quince and for winter prunes or sans-fruit with lemon zest and fresh vanilla bean. I love how simple and easy it is to prepare - which is why it has become my foolproof dessert. 1 tablespoon melted butter 2 tablespoons caster sugar 100g plain GF or wheat flour 4 whole eggs 6 tbsp caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla bean essence 1 cup whole milk or cream 70g unsalted butter pinch of salt zest of 1 lemon finely grated **3 smallish apricots halved + handful of blackberries** (or fruit of your choice) Preheat oven to 180'c. Brush the inside of a ceramic or glass baking dish with the melted butter. Add the sugar and shake around so as to coat the inside of the dish - this will create a lovely crust. In a bowl add the flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest - with a fork slowly whisk until you have a smooth consistency. In a small saucepan melt the butter and let it bubble until it reaches a "golden" colour then leave to cool. Slowly whisk in the milk, followed by the cream, then the butter into your egg mixture. Pour batter into your prepared dish and place fruit on top. Bake for 30-40 minutes - you'll know the clafoutis is cooked when the blade of a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Fresh Apricot Chicken Do you know one of the first meals I ever properly "cooked" for my family was apricot chicken and rice? - I was about five or six years old and had just learnt how to make it at a cooking class run by my school. I suspect it was a very simplified version of it with apricot nectar in a tin / But I must say I am quite partial to that tangy, faintly spicy, sweet-meets-savoury combination. 600g fresh apricots, roughly chopped, pitted 1/4 cup sugar or honey 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 800g kilo free-range chicken thighs and drumsticks pinch of salt 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 large celery stalk chopped 2 medium sized carrots, chopped 2 cups chicken broth 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon curry power 1 teaspoon tabasco sauce or another hot, flavourful sauce black pepper to taste Place apricots, sugar and vinegar in a small bowl and stir to combine. Meanwhile brown your chicken pieces in batches over a medium-high heat in a deep-based saucepan. Remove chicken and set aside. Then heat olive oil in the pan with the brown juices and chopped onion. Sauté onion until softened then add celery and carrots. Return chicken to pan and add spices, herbs and broth. Now with your apricots, remove 2/3 and blend into a puree. Pour the puree until the pan with the chicken and stir to combine. Bring stew to the boil then lower heat and gently simmer for 1 + 1/2 - 2 hours ( the longer the better) checking and stirring every now again to prevent sticking and you may need to add a bit more stock. Just before serving add the remaining apricot pieces into the pot and stir to combine. Serve over a bed of rice or grain of your liking and garnish with freshly chopped chives and parsley. ​ Seasonal Fruit Leather We all love fruit leather in my family. It's a great way to use up an abundance of ripe seasonal fruit. For us at the moment thats plums and apricots and soon to be mulberries and blackberries. It keeps well in an airtight container or even frozen in strips to use for baking at a later date. Variation #1: plum, apple + vanilla bean 4 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped 10 small/medium plums, cored and chopped 1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla bean raw honey to taste (I used about 2 tablespoons) Variation #2: apricot + cinnamon 20 small ripe apricots, cored and chopped 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon ground raw honey to taste (I used about 2-3 heaped tablespoons, but you might want more to counter the apricot's tartness) ​Other great combinations include: Pear, Rhubarb + Cinnamon // Strawberry + Rhubarb // Quince + Honey // Apple + Blackberry Cook fruit in a saucepan on a gentle heat for about 10 minutes. Cool and blend into a fine puree. Smooth puree out over baking trays lined with baking paper and dry in a very sunny place covered by mesh or glass or in the oven on it's lowest temperature overnight - I tend to put them on a table that gets flooded with morning sun for a few hours, then in a switched-off oven after I've done a big batch of baking so it's still very warm. I have quite good success drying them in the car on a hot day, I place the trays on the dashboard which full sun hits it. You'll know it's dried sufficiently when the surface is firm and shiny. Gently pull leather away from baking paper and store in an airtight container. . On the blog . merry merry So many things made Christmas... Read More Making 2020 It was