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First published 2025 by: Bustle & Sew Station House West Cranmore Shepton Mallet BA4 4QP
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WelcometotheMayMagazine
I just love this time of year, as the days grow ever warmer (hopefully!) And the daylight hours lengthen. The countryside is a mass of blossom, there are lilacs and peonies in the garden and we can enjoy an abundance of fresh eggs from the chickens with the promise of more produce to come in the weeks and months ahead.
This month we celebrate the time of year with some lovely seasonal recipes, favourite May time traditions and the burgeoning countryside around us. This month brings the eightieth anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day, and so it seemed a good time to write about the courageous wartime activities of Phyllis Latour, an agent in occupied France. As well as all this of course, there are six Bustle & Sew patterns as well as much more besides.
I do hope you’ll enjoy this month’s magazine and the June edition will be published on Thursday 29 May in five weeks time. Until then…
Very best wishes Helen xx
If yellow is the predominant colour of early spring, then surely white is that of May. The hawthorn is in full pure white flower, but then so are cow parsley, wayfaring tree and elder - all are also white. But there’s plenty of colour elsewhere to be found too. Bluebells are at their best, and they are joined by pink herb Robert, purple wild violets and plump golden dandelions, all growing at the hedgerow base.
This month the dawn chorus is at its peak. This most beautiful chorus of birdsong is the sound of blackbirds, robins, thrushes, finches and wrens defending their territories. Dawn is when the air is at its most still and so their song will carry further to reach more distant birds as well as those close by.
May has been known by various names across the country and over the years. The Scots knew it as either “Ceitean” or “Mey”, the Welsh “Mai” and the Cornish “Me”. Some of these names are clearly derived from the ancient Roman month name “Maius” but the Irish “Bealtaine” and Manx “Boaldyn” are derived from “Beltane” the Gaelic May Day festival, marking the beginning of summer.
Beltane is traditionally held on 1 May, or about midway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Historically, it was widely observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. It is one of the four Gaeilc festivals (and probably the best known today) that mark the seasons - the others being Imolc, Lughnasadh and Samhain. Beltane
was a fire festival and the fires lit as part of the celebrations were thought to have magical and protective qualities. This was the day that cattle were traditionally driven out to their summer pastures and a common ritual was to drive them between two fires to protect them from disease.
There is a well-known phrase here in England “Cast not a clout till May is out” warns people not to cast off their winter clothes until they are absolutely certain that summer has arrived. There has been some debate as to whether “May” in this rhyme means the month or the hawthorn blossom, but looking back to early references it seems quite clear that the month is what is meant.
Thesewingmachine:Adomesticrevolution
Right up until the mid nineteenth century almost every woman sewed - almost constantly. They would have undertaken different types of sewing of course, ranging from piecing together plain clothes to decorative embroidery work, but whatever type of sewing they undertook, it was expected of them as part of the work they performed for their homes and families. Sewing might have been considered to be “women’s work” but, like today, that doesn’t mean that all women relished the task. Indeed, even those of us who love needlework would probably grow to hate stitching after being tasked with hemming sheets, mending household linen, or even sewing seams on gowns day in day out.
Rachel Van Dyke, a young woman from New Jersey, tasked with making shirts for the men in her family wrote in her diary of 1811:
“Mama has given me tonight two more shirts to make. I dislike to make shirts. If I had a husband, I believe I would teach him to handle a needle, and make him help himself.”
As a teenager, Frances Willard, future President of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Organisation also despised this task, writing in her diary of 1855:
“Mary and I made us each a black silk apron” and that she “sewed very steady” that day: “hate it very cordially!”
But salvation was at hand for these reluctant needlewomen! Enter the sewing machine!
The introduction of the sewing machine in the middle of the nineteenth century completely changed both sewing work and fashion forever. Multiple innovations, inventions and patents led to the development of the treadle sewing machine in the middle of the 1850’s.
In 1856 Singer manufactured their first machine designed for domestic use, complete with a wooden table and cabinet. The price though was very high, indeed was prohibitive for most households, at $125. This was at a time when the average household income was only around $500 pa! To make their machines affordable, Singer developed a payment plan system where buyers had only to make an initial payment of $5.
Sewing machines soon became a middle class status symbol, and were proudly displayed in families’ living rooms. By the 1870’s American companies were producing more than half a million domestic sewing machines every year.
Free from Lisa Tilse at We are Scout: Print with Leaves onto Fabric
Blossoms inMay….
TheMerriest Month…
Spring is the season of new beginnings and with the brighter warmer days comes the delight of fresh new produce from garden and farm, and new ingredients to gather into the kitchen - so wonderful after the long dark months of winter - root vegetables are great, but by now I’m sure that, like me, you’re yearning for something a bit different!
Food production is often just getting started this month as the weather starts to warm up a little more. Many over-wintered crops are finishing around now, but those much-awaited new roots, shoots and fruits are starting to come though too. The first few UK strawberries are ready to pick, especially if they’ve been grown in greenhouses in the southern counties, and there are some tasty baby vegetables to cook up. Look out for delicious Jersey Royal new potatoes too, whilst you may also be able to find some very early season peas from plants that have been started off under cover.
In the kitchen it’s a wonderful time for one particular group of ingredients - the herbs. And who knows, we may even get to have our first meal in the garden - and everything, as everybody knows, tastes better when eaten of doors.
Chives, chervil, parsley and lovage, rosemary, sage, thyme and sorrel are all at their best this month and can be used to create fresh, fragrant dishes that speak of spring. Use them in various combinations to create wonderful stuffing for chicken, add a herby crust to meat or simply sprinkle them over fresh fish all month long. And then of course there is the classic made with the freshest eggs and herbs from your garden - a true taste of spring.
Broccoli Soup
Ingredients
● 1 tbsp olive oil
● 1 garlic clove, chopped
● 250ml chicken or vegetable stock (more if necessary)
● 200g broccoli florets and stems, chopped plus a few extra to garnish
● salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
● Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the garlic for 1-2 minutes.
● Pour the chicken or vegetable stock into the pan and add the broccoli florets.
● Bring to the boil and reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10-12 minutes, until the broccoli is tender.
● Season with salt and pepper, then transfer to a liquidizer. Blend until smooth.
● Ladle the soup into serving bowls and garnish with extra florets
Bigcauliflowers,likelytocatchtheeyeofany housewife,wereobjectsofimmediatesuspicion. MGregoropoulosknewtheircomplaint. They weresoftandnolongerfitforthetable. The “flower”carefullyexamined,hadstarteda secondgrowth,itwasnolongeraclearwhite, tingedwiththeyellowishundergrowth. Asparagustoo,ifnotfreshlycut,betrayed itself. Itshouldbepinky-white,andthegreen tipshouldbefirmandtightlypacked.
From “Victoria Four-Thirty” by Cecil Roberts published 1937
SpringontheRiver
Itallseemedtogoodtobetrue. Hitherandthitherthroughthemeadowsherambled busily, along the hedgerows, across the copses, finding everywhere birds building, flowersbudding,leavesthrusting-everythinghappy,andprogressive,andoccupied
He thought his happiness was complete when, as he meandered aimlessly along, suddenlyhestoodbytheedgeofafull-fedriver. Neverinhislifehadheseenariver before - this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping thingswithagurgleandleavingthemwithalaugh,toflingitselfonfreshplaymates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again. All was a-shake and a-shiver-glintsandgleamsandsparklesrustleandswirl,chatterandbubble. The Molewasbewitched,entranced,fascinated. Bythesideoftheriverhetrottedasone trots,whenverysmall,bythesideofamanwhoholdsonespellboundbyexciting stories;andwhentiredatlast,hesatontheback,whiletheriverstillchatteredonto him,ababblingprocessionofthebeststoriesintheworldsentfromtheheartofthe earthtobetoldatlasttotheinsatiablesea.
