The Best of Summer So Far

I didn’t realise how disconnected I had become from nature until this summer made me stop and pay attention.

I think it’s really easy to spend so much time working, creating and keeping up with everyday life that you forget to actually stop and notice what’s going on around you. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and suddenly a whole season has passed without you really taking it in.

That’s probably where I found myself at the beginning of summer. Just caught up in routine, moving from one thing to the next and not really stopping to look around me.

But this summer has felt different.

I’ve grown my own vegetables, started properly getting into gardening, pressed flowers from some really special moments, travelled around Portugal and spent time in places that have made me think differently about our relationship with nature.

I’ve also found a little fox who I’ve affectionately named Foxy.

And looking back at all of it, I think these things have reminded me what Earth Tone is actually about.

It’s so much more than pressed flowers in frames.

Growing my own vegetables

This summer, I decided to start growing my own vegetables.

It might not sound like a huge thing, but for someone who spends a lot of time indoors working and creating, it has felt like stepping into a completely different world.

There’s something so exciting about putting a tiny seed into some soil and having absolutely no idea what’s going to happen next.

Will it grow? Have I planted it properly? Am I watering it enough? Have I completely killed it?

Some things have worked and some things definitely haven’t. I’ve had to learn as I go, and I’m still very much figuring it all out.

But there’s something incredibly satisfying about watching something you planted yourself slowly grow.

And then getting to eat it.

There is something about picking a tomato from your own garden that just feels different. You’ve watched it grow, watered it, checked on it and waited for it. It feels like so much more than just food.

Gardening has also made me slow down.

You can’t really rush it. You have to go outside and check what’s happening. Notice what needs watering. Look at the leaves. See what’s growing. See what isn’t.

I’ve found myself noticing things I probably wouldn’t have before.

And I really like that.

There’s something quite grounding about getting your hands in the soil and looking after something outside of yourself for a little while.

Finding Foxy

One of the more unexpected parts of this summer was finding Foxy.

Foxy was a fox we found buried perfectly underneath some decking. It sounds a little strange, but we became completely fascinated by it.

We started wondering how long it had been there, what had happened to it and how it had ended up in that exact spot. There was something quite strange about being so interested in something that was no longer alive.

But the more I thought about it, the more I started to see why it had captured our attention.

I think we have a fascination with mortality because it makes us think about how temporary everything is. We notice things more when we know they won't be here forever.

And I think that connects quite closely to why I'm so drawn to sentimentality too.

So much of what I do with Earth Tone is about keeping something that would otherwise disappear. A wedding bouquet wilts. Flowers dry out. A moment passes. But we don't necessarily want to let those things go just because they're no longer here in the same way.

We want something to remember them by.

Finding Foxy made me think about that in a completely different way. There was something quite beautiful about wanting to understand, remember and even preserve something simply because it had once been alive.

It reminded me that our attachment to things isn't always logical. Sometimes we just feel connected to them because they meant something, because they were part of something, or simply because they existed.

And maybe that's why I love working with flowers so much.

I'm not just preserving something because it's beautiful.

I'm preserving a little piece of something that has already happened.

Pressing flowers from people's special days

Alongside all of this, I’ve been lucky enough to spend my summer pressing flowers from some really special days.

Weddings, anniversaries and moments that people want to hold onto for a little longer.

Every time a new set of flowers arrives at the studio, I’m reminded that I’m not just being trusted with flowers.

I’m being trusted with something that mattered to someone.

These flowers have been part of someone's wedding day. They’ve been held, photographed, carried down an aisle and celebrated.

And then they arrive with me.

I get to carefully press them, preserve them and give them a new life as something they can keep.

That’s the part of my work that I never want to lose sight of.

It’s easy to look at a pressed flower frame and see the flowers, the glass and the frame.

But for the person who owns it, it’s so much more than that.

It’s a piece of a day they don’t want to forget.

It’s something they can look at every day and remember exactly how that moment felt.

And that’s why I love what I do.

I’m taking something that might otherwise be packed away or eventually thrown away and turning it into a memory that can live on their wall.

Travelling around Portugal

I also spent some time travelling around Portugal this summer, and I think getting away made me notice things in a different way.

Whenever I travel somewhere new, I find myself looking at the plants, gardens and landscapes around me. I notice what grows there, how people use their outdoor spaces and how different the natural environment can feel from home.

Portugal was no different.

There was so much to look at, and I found myself wanting to slow down and actually take it all in rather than rushing from one place to the next.

One of the places that really stayed with me was Orchard of Flavours, or Pomar dos Sabores, in Luz.

Orchard of Flavours, Pomar dos Sabores

Visiting the orchard was one of those experiences that made me think about nature in a slightly different way.

They’re growing fruit trees and experimenting with different ways of helping them adapt to our changing climate.

I found that really interesting.

It wasn’t just about growing fruit. It was about paying attention to what nature is telling us and finding ways to work with it.

Standing there, surrounded by the trees and seeing the work that was going into caring for them, I found myself thinking about how much we can learn when we actually take the time to notice what’s happening around us.

It made me think about Earth Tone too.

Because so much of what I do is about working with what nature has already given us.

I’m not trying to change the flowers into something they’re not. I’m preserving them. I’m finding a way for them to continue being part of someone’s life long after the day they were picked.

And I think that’s one of the reasons sustainability has always felt so important to me.

It’s about appreciating what we already have.

What this summer has reminded me about Earth Tone

When I look back at everything I’ve done this summer, it all seems quite different on the surface.

Growing vegetables.

Starting my garden.

Finding Foxy.

Pressing someone's wedding flowers.

Travelling around Portugal.

Walking through an orchard.

But somehow, it all connects.

It has reminded me that Earth Tone has never really been about one particular product.

It’s about my relationship with nature and how that shows up in the things I create.

It’s about noticing the beauty in things that might otherwise be overlooked.

It’s about preserving things that matter.

It’s about creating with natural materials, slowing down and making something meaningful from what already exists.

And I think it’s also about giving myself permission to explore.

I don’t want Earth Tone to only ever be about pressed flowers. I want it to reflect all the things that make me feel connected to nature and creativity.

This summer has reminded me of that.

The best of summer so far

Looking back, I think the best parts of my summer haven’t necessarily been the biggest moments.

They’ve been the little things.

Watching something I planted grow.

Getting soil under my fingernails.

Finding Foxy in the grass.

Pressing flowers from someone's wedding day.

Walking through an orchard in Portugal.

Stopping to notice something I might normally have walked past.

I think sometimes we spend so much time looking for the next thing that we forget to actually notice where we are.

This summer has made me want to do a little more of that.

To look around.

To get outside.

To make things.

To grow things.

To notice things.

And to appreciate the little pieces of nature that are already around me.

Because maybe we don’t always need more.

Maybe sometimes we just need to pay a little more attention to what we already have.

And if there’s one thing I’m taking away from this summer, it’s that this is what Earth Tone is really about.

Nature, creativity, memories and finding beauty in the things we might otherwise let pass us by.

If you’ve found your own little way of reconnecting with nature this summer, I’d love to hear about it. Maybe you’ve started growing something, spent more time outside, discovered somewhere new or simply started noticing what’s growing around you.

And if you have flowers from a special moment this summer that you’re not quite ready to let go of, I’m always here to help you turn them into memories.