Pine Marten Post #2
Hello lovely person, and welcome to the second edition of Pine Marten Post!
I’m excited to share my deeply sensory world with you. Using your senses more is a fantastic way to connect more fully with the world around you. And in doing so, you may feel calmer and more grounded.
Gardening tips
Water container grown plants thoroughly, even if you've had some rain. Long daylight hours and sunny spells mean lots of thirsty plants. Dense foliage can create an umbrella effect, sheltering the roots from precious water — not helpful at this time of year.
Keep birdbaths and ponds topped up to help your local wildlife. Even a tiny pond can encourage dragonflies and damselflies into your garden. Hedgehogs are very thirsty creatures, so they’ll love to include your pond on their nightly wanderings. They’re eager to feast on slugs, so your garden will also benefit.
Nipping the faded heads off flowering plants will encourage more beautiful flowers before autumn arrives.
Your garden might be looking fabulous right now; take lots of photos so you can enjoy them during the winter, and use them as reference guides if you’d like to boost your planting schemes.
Struggling for inspiration, or looking for some advice about gardening with the easiest going plants?
How about booking a Tiny Garden Consultation?
Fragrant musings from the library of scent
Cardinal by Heeley Parfums
Top notes
A ribbon of tender rose threads its way through tingling black pepper. Soft, warm and enticing.
Heart notes
The incense rich scents of sultry frankincense, woody myrrh and honeyed leather labdanum weave an intoxicating spell. Opulent, but never heavy.
Base notes
Sun bleached wood and vetiver underpins. Warm tobacco glides alongside.
Sensory impressions
A scorching afternoon. Cornflower sky and wisps of high cloud.
Young children shouting excitedly, salt spray splashing up
Dazzling white sails of distant yachts
Linen shirt bleaching in the hot sun
Distant hulk of ancient shipwreck
Oystercatchers peeping song
Clatter of stones overturning
Old casket, hidden, buried
Broken open
A vial of incense trickles out onto
the salt-marked velvet lining
Hot, sticky resinous wood
Cracked leather book
Yellowed pages
Split wide to a
Faded
Rose
Wear this if you want to feel…
Refreshed, intrigued, enlightened
Nature notes for the month
Meadow pipits flirt with the sky, chittering and skittering as they climb like clockwork toys.
Thistles bristle with amethyst prickles.
Silvery grasses sway in the salty breeze, the odd stem a gleaming gold.
Squabbling sparrowhawks erupt from deep in the shimmering green beech grove, and broad indigo saucers of wild geraniums lift their faces to the sun.
Rosebay willowherb sashays across acres of bramble thicket, each tall stem a high rise dwelling for drowsy bumblebees, drunkenly lurching from one fuchsia lip to another.
Up on the moors, fat blaeberries burst with inky juice, and lingonberries glow ruby by your feet.
Two shy fawns startle, their noses twitching, then continue stripping bark from a tender young willow.
Along the lane by the riding school, a pine marten flashes across the stony path, glancing once in your direction, but their business is too important to stop and chat.
Featured bean-to-bar chocolate
Cacaosuyo - 50% Piura cacao - milk chocolate - Peru
Tasting notes:
Glossy, smooth, red fruits, redcurrants, raspberries, fresh, bright, silky, slightly astringent, warm vanilla, expensive custard with a hint of nutmeg
The wonderful folk at Cacaosuyo meticulously hand select the finest, rare criollo cacao beans from the trees themselves. Their ambition is to produce the purest and best expressions of rare cacao beans in Peru, and, in my opinion, they’re getting pretty close…
Random Scottish fact
There are 790 islands in Scotland, of which about 95 are inhabited. Some can become very busy in the summer, but there are plenty where you can still escape the crowds. Scottish school holidays end soon, so the islands will be quieter — why not consider a wee break?
One of my favourites is tiny Gigha, the most southerly of the Inner Hebrides. Now owned by the super friendly community, it’s only a 20 minute ferry journey from Tayinloan on the West Coast of Scotland. At 7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, it’s possible to take the ferry in the morning, spend a day breathing in the tranquility of this unique island, then return to the mainland in the evening.
Emerald seas whisper along silvery beaches made of thousands of crushed seashells — powder soft on your feet. Sun scorched seaweed scents the air, as oystercatchers wheel overhead, peep-peeping to each other.
Find out more about the particular magic of Gigha here.
On the blog:
Looking for plants to fill your garden with scent?
Here are my top recommendations for you to create a low maintenance scented sanctuary.
Have you been enjoying roses blooming in nearby gardens?
It's easier to grow roses than you might think.
Thanks for joining me on these sensory adventures! Here are other places you can find me...
Photo credits: Rowan Ambrose
Illustration credits: Imogen Oakes
I'd love to hear about what sensory experiences bring you joy.
Feel free to reply to this email, or you can message me on Instagram or LinkedIn.