Scent of a loved one

Today I am going to talk about people’s smells. Not the most exciting of topics (and maybe considered slightly disturbing and disgusting) but these are positive smells, the smells of people close to us. It would probably be more romantic to call them ‘scents’. These scents are so unique to the individual, that if you were blindfolded and wearing ear muffs when a loved one came to greet you, you would know by their smell alone who it was.

Today I embraced my Dad as I met him at a village fete and fairground and as my nose rested next to his hair with my chin over his shoulder, I realised that he had a scent that took me back to my childhood. With a slight hint of Kourous and minty chewing gum, and the special hair shampoo he uses for his fluffy hair and dry scalp, added to the scent of his cottage (my babyhood home), an emotion stirred in me that I felt literally in my heart that I was home. I am sure it is nature’s way of linking family genetics together, just like in the same way that a lamb releases a unique scent as it suckles from it’s mother, to let her know that she is feeding her own. 

The same can be said of my Mum, her house, scent, washing powder and Anais Anais. Most of us are creatures of habit and don’t tend to change the brand of our shampoo, perfume, body wash etc. Not forgetting domestic cleaning products that contribute to the overall scent of our homes. All of this fuses to make a heady cocktail of that unique person. The same feeling stirs in my heart when I smell the hair of my husband (maybe more enjoyable before he has gone to work and at weekends!) and my daughter and son. My daughter makes me laugh when she deeply inhales the smell of her baby brother’s favourite toy “I just love the smell of him” she exclaims and this is because of the emotion the smell evokes. 

Can a smell/ scent be captured for eternity though? I was thinking about when my parents pass away, will I have the chance to save something that smells of them and if I do will that scent remain on that article of clothing? How long can it last? To what extent do memories perpetuate a loved one’s scent?

In motherhood, scent stakes a claim on offspring. The cavewoman in me doesn’t like it when I collect my son from nursery and find he smells of the women who have been looking after him, as nice as the perfume may be, it is not the smell of my son. This harks to the farmers who use the technique of mounting the hide from a dead lamb onto the body of an orphaned lamb so that a Mummy sheep will adopt the lamb and allow it to suckle. I think this also links to the meaning behind the common utterance ‘something doesn’t smell right with this’. It is amazing how important scent is in our lives and the value placed on it by Mother Nature herself.

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The lion and lamb

I had the pleasure of indulging in a bit of animal husbandry today. We had set-up a photography shoot with some Jacob’s sheep and their lambs. They were beautiful colours and I got the chance to cuddle a lamb with lovely markings. It was very calm although occasionally bleated to check it’s Mum was around. They are way too cute to eat and I think it is wrong that they are slaughtered. I feel sorry for the guys who have to do it – no doubt they are a little screwed in the head.

So when I asked the guy who looks after them how many were boys thankfully only a few – its sad the boys are destined for a very short-life. Sure you need a few rams to keep the sheep population going. It can be argued there wouldn’t be so many sheep if it wasn’t for the meat market but they also produce the most fantastic wool, particularly Jacob’s wool so carnivores can bugger off.

In fact there is another argument that it is too costly both financially and environmentally to eat meat. Meat has to travel a significant distance to get to the consumer. Fossil fuels are also wasted in producing crops just to produce hard feed for animals that will later be slaughtered. Why not invest more in agriculture for the production of crops that we can eat ourselves? Then there is all the ‘organic’ meat and making sure it is not contaminated, ‘fresh’ and not mixed with something else (like horse) and you can start to see an argument for cutting out meat completely.

Well at least I can….I’m pretty sure the vegetarian contingent is getting stronger. I am hearing of more and more families raising children vegetarian. At my daughter’s last party I had two five year old children tell me they were vegetarian and not to give them any meaty party food. They were very forthright about it and even seemed empowered by their independent choice.

I am blogging every day to help fundraise for Unicef. If you want to support the campaign, please visit my page on the Unicef site.

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Feel for the Freezing Farmers

Today we visited a farm that is a popular school holiday destination. It has the perfect combination of animals and children’s entertainment with rides, shows and adventure trails. However, when we dared to venture beyond the indoor heated soft-play area we witnessed a desolate area with hardly any children and animals shivering in shelters. Normally the area is packed with children, buggies and parents queuing up for coffee and cake. The overflow car park has never been so empty. 

We braved the ‘Big Red Tractor Ride’ with one other parent and child (the trailer usually takes about 20 people) and the driver was cursing the weather, “grass doesn’t grow unless its at least 11 degrees. The lambs should be out in the fields but they are shivering under heat lamps in the barns and the goats and their kids are all in the barn too.” My baby son was content to see the back of the new Massey Ferguson tractor used in the Olympics opening ceremony as we trundled along. The farm looked more like a scene in February rather than April. 

Agricultural farming is also suffering. The last time I saw a tractor working by flood-light in the field behind us was in August – so desperate are they to get ploughing and cultivating. My husband too is struggling  because the ground is still too wet to gain access to people’s gardens for tree work. In short I have sympathy for anyone who relies on the weather to earn a living in the UK.

For most of us the weather is just a bit inconvenient in having to layer up like a seasoned skier in April. But for others their living depends upon it.

Lets hope this year’s wonky weather is a freak occurrence rather than a regular one for the sake of our farmers.

I am blogging every day to help raise money for Unicef. If you are interested in supporting Unicef too, please visit the site.

Thanks for reading