May Day

May blossom

The hawthorn blossom is out in the hedgerows now and is also known as May blossom because of when it flowers.

I had a Great Auntie May who wouldn't allow May blossom in the house as it was widely thought to be unlucky and a harbinger of death. My mum remembers jam jars of blossom picked as a child sitting on the windowsill outside of the kitchen.  It does have a sickly smell as it goes over and it's since been discovered that it contains trimethylamine, a chemical also formed in decaying flesh, hence the association. Incidentally she also had a 3 legged cat called Tattyfelarious.

'Cast ne'er a clout till May be out' or in other words don't take your vest off too early as it's still Spring in the UK. It probably means until the May blossom is out on the Hawthorn trees rather than until it's the end of May, so here we are, proof that we can cast a clout.

Not many Beltane or May Day celebrations for us, although we did make some dandelion blossom cookies. We've been to a historic farm to see the burning of a wicker figure before but they'd sold out of tickets before we organised ourselves, so not this year. 

Adderbury, a nearby village, was responsible for the national revival of Morris dancing in the 1970s after a local woman, Janet Blunt, worked to save and record local folk music and traditions in the early twentieth century. 

We're very bad at respecting our own folk history in the UK and Morris Dancing, particularly Cotswold Morris like this, is seen as a bit of a joke whilst other global folk traditions are lauded. There is a bit more to it than men waving hankies but I can see why it's amusing. 

Adderbury Morris Men

We always support the annual Day of Dance when all three sides celebrate Janet Blunt's birthday at the end of April but this year was ABSOLUTELY freezing (the hawthorn wasn't yet blooming- definitely still had my vest on) so we didn't hang about as long as we sometimes do. No sitting in the sun with a beer this time.

The local Guide unit had the first cookout of the years so I went to help my Mum and my eldest daughter who are both leaders. Any excuse for a bit of fire lighting (their unit is one of the few left who still do all their cooking over wood fires) and the girls had a lovely evening cooking sausages and beans and then toasting marshmallows.

We took our Rainbow unit to the local woods for a walk in the bluebells, always beautiful.

I took advantage of the bank holiday to get in a bit of practice for the long distance walk I'm (hopefully) entering in December and also to get some jobs done in the garden. More on that another day but I've finally finished the last asparagus bed, moved the leaf mould bin and helped husband put up a support for the summer fruiting raspberries as well as general tidying, weeding and seed sowing. 

This book arrived in the post which I'm very excited about. I've flicked through it but need to sit down and read it properly.

Vera writes at the excellent Grown To Cook permaculture blog in the sidebar (which I can't get to update when she posts for some reason) but she is most active on their You Tube channel GrownToCook. The videos are well worth a look.