No one has ever called me The Space Cowboy.
Let alone The Gangster of Love*.
But I did feel a bit like one last Tuesday afternoon. A Space Cowboy, that is.
Because Ella had arranged for us all to go to Somerset House.
Their SOIL exhibition is dedicated to the power and potential of soil, and it my blew my mind.
Incredible photography and artwork details the overwhelming abundance of life that lives beneath our feet. All sorts of mind bending, alien-like life forms and mysterious mycorrhizal networks.
Did you know that more than half the world’s organisms live underground?
And yet typically, we treat them like dirt.
This exhibition rightly champions them as the lifegivers that they actually are; making up those six inches of soil upon which we all depend.
If you get the chance to go, you really should. It’s excellent, and if you’re fcoused on eating regeneratively produced food I wouldn’t be at all surprised or ashamed if it affords you a momentary flash of justified pride.
Talking of justified pride, Susana has listed this season’s olive oil – made from olives harvested in this winter 24/25 from her family farm in Jaén, Andalucía.
Why does this matter?
Because not all olive oils are equal. And I don’t just mean the importance of buying Extra Virgin and so on. I’m talking about freshness.
What I didn’t realise until I went to live in Spain is that olive oil diminishes with age. It doesn’t go off, obvs. But it does, over time, lose both its flavour and those famous health benefits.
It’s why the Spanish make such a big deal about la nueva cosecha – oil from the new harvest.
Anyway, we tried Susana’s in the office on Friday.
OH MY GOD. IT IS EXQUISITE.
Produced without any herbicides or pesticides, it is so, so good – and it’s jammed with over twice as many polyphenols as you’ll find in pretty much any other quality oil.
Remember that delivery is free this week, so you may want to stock up now.
Anyway, I’m off to play my music in the sun.
I’ll leave you to go Wylde.
Nick
* nor ‘Maurice’, thank God.
PS - if you’ve already ordered and would like to add to it, just make a fresh order and we’ll take care of the rest.
