JANUARY NEWSLETTER
If AI were writing this it would be called 'Hibernating Hacks You Can’t Survive January Without!' Fortunately, it's not. So: peaceful things to cook and do in the kitchen and garden this month.
Hello you lovely lot.
Welcome to my monthly newsletter, normally as stuffed as a Polish cabbage with events, news, big plans and the promise of veg-filled adventures. But, honestly, it’s January, and whilst everyone else is joining their How To Make Six Figures on Substack zoom workshops, I am hibernating. So effectively am I hibernating, in fact, that my friend
even wrote about it here. So now it’s a thing.Also, I am writing (exciting secret things that I will tell you about soon. Trust me, you’ll be sick of me talking about it before long, so enjoy it whiles it lasts) and for that I need quiet.
Therefore, to cultivate that quietness and by way of antidote to all the goal-setting spreadsheets, productivity apps, gym programmes, diet plans and, the worst, tax returns (gulp) around in January, here is my guide to hibernating. (Spoiler: it mostly involved food. And some gentle vegetabling.)
How To Hibernate
Given that I spend most of my time gardening or cooking, it’s inevitable that my top hibernating tips (ooo, shall we make it into a clickbait ‘Five Hibernating Hacks You Can’t Survive January Without!’ list? No, we shall not*) are all focused on eating and being outside (or not).
(*This, rather terrifyingly, is what ChatGPT did with that prompt when I entered it having, I would add, already written this newsletter. We’re doomed.)
What to Cook:
The knack to January cooking, I think, is to find dishes that are effortless, comforting but not so indulgent that they send you into a stupor. Hearty, but not heart-stopping (ok, apart from the panettone pudding). The answer then, as always, is lots of vegetables.
Then head to my cookbook, From the Veg Patch, and try the Spinach and Smoked Haddock Rarebit or the Leek, Cider and Chestnut Crumble pictured below and both truly cockle-warming.
What to Do:
Reading Wintering by
, the fairy godmother of hibernation, must be at the top of your list.Then try The World-Ending Fire by Wendell Berry, not about hibernating specifically, but his description of a slow, considered life in the woods and amongst nature (or that’s what I imagine anyway) is magical.
Buy The Secret of Cooking by Bee Wilson which is calming, quiet and supportive but still packed with inventive recipes. Listen to her interview with
here then get the book and cook everything. Starting with the carrot salads. It’s a gem.Browse some seed catalogues. This is no time to garden. Instead, ponder how your plot might look in August if you had all the time in the world and some sort of deal with nature so everything worked. I like Chiltern Seeds, Tamar Organic and Sarah Raven (if you’re feeling flush). All have lovely catalogues to browse by the fire.
Read Monty Don’s latest, The Gardening Book. A warning: it is rather full of projects you’ll want to embark on, but each is set out like a recipe and many are quick, so you can feel like you’ve achieved something without it turning into a major gardening operation.
If you feel like gardening, but only if you feel like it, then do. You could:
Tidy the potting shed
Scrub the plant labels to remove the writing for reuse this year
Sieve the compost bin ready for spreading on top of your veg beds
Spread compost on top of your veg beds
Cover young rhubarb plants with a glass cloche to protect new shoots from rain/slugs/puppies
Jet wash the greenhouse, if you have one.
What are you preferred ways to hibernate? Do leave me a comment with your January hibernation habits and we’ll compile a list. Very much not a To Do list though…
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yes chat GPT… and the more you use it the more it perfects your voice/tone.i asked AI for an image for my monkey self in year of the dragon…very specific instructions…and the result was so so good i am having it framed as a giclee print.
You are, officially, A Thing xxx