Balance September 2017 - 29

S H E S AY S

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Edit

City dweller Edith Bowman has long hankered after the country
life. But there's more to it than growing your own food, surely?
photography by BEN D UF F Y

HAIR & MAKE-UP: MALIN COLEMAN STYLING: SABRINA HENRY EDITH WEARS: DUNGAREES, PEPE JEANS; STRIPED POLO NECK, PETIT BATEAU

eturning from a weekend away with
my lovely in-laws in Gloucestershire,
I'm back on the train, looking on
Prime Location for houses in the area. An
oft-wondered question races around my head
as the lush green, seemingly perfect existence
of country life is left behind: Why do I live in
London? It's a much bigger question which I
may dive into another time; for now, it's a few
of the simple things I wanted to talk to you
about. Like growing your own food and how
easy or hard it is.
Part of this weekend away involved my
spending a day at the Cotswolds Water Park,
where I had spent an hour in what can only
be described as a real-life Total Wipeout set
(it is harder than it looks, much harder). On
returning home, I discovered my mother in-law
and the small ones were in the garden digging
up some potatoes for dinner.

A DREAM COME TRUE
Watching this unfold took my breath away. It
felt like a scene from a real-life Disney film,
as Spike, my four-year-old, put on his wellies,
picked up his miniature digging fork and
proceeded to pull up about 20 spuds and put
them in his miniature wheelbarrow. Spike's
spuds were washed, peeled, boiled and served
up for dinner without so much as a snigger. And
it wasn't just the potatoes that made it from the
garden to our plates; they were joined by kale
and courgettes (both green and yellow), too.
This is the dream for me if I'm honest - I
once even attempted it in our small but bijou
garden in London. My romantic notion was that
I could plant stuff with the kids, watch it grow
and then we'd harvest it in matching gardening
gloves and cook something together. In reality,
I managed a few potatoes, two onions and some
runner beans before the kids complained they
needed more space for playing football.

If I'm being totally honest, I did get bored
with it, a bit like I did with gymnastics,
karate and fly fishing when I was a kid.
Thing is, you need to a) know what you are
doing and b) have time to do it, a lot of time.
I had neither.

GROWING PAINS
What is the attraction of wanting to grow and
harvest something? Maybe it's that nurture
instinct as a parent, except just because

SPIKE'S SPUDS WERE
WASHED, PEELED, BOILED
AND SERVED UP WITHOUT
SO MUCH AS A SNIGGER
you've grown a child, don't think you can grow
a marrow as well. I can't even keep a basil plant
alive for longer than three weeks. Maybe if
(when?) we move to the country I will have the
time, confidence and know-how to grow my
own stuff. God knows I have all the books, tools,
knee cushions, gardening twine, moisture meter
and pea frames a girl could want.
So, watch out for the Grow Your Own Veg
with Bowman book... but no time soon! B
Listen to Edith at Breakfast weekdays from
6am-10am on Virgin Radio. The free podcast
Soundtracking can be downloaded from
edithbowman.com.

Share your
thoughts
with me
@edibow and
@BalanceLDN

September 2017 BA LA N CE

http://www.edithbowman.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Balance September 2017