<![CDATA[ANALOGUE by Tiffany Francis-Baker]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lZhK!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1b448541-ca23-43c3-8c17-8e1c6bd66d79_1280x1280.pngANALOGUE by Tiffany Francis-Bakerhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.comSubstackSun, 02 Aug 2026 05:40:16 GMT<![CDATA[Am I a patriot now?]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/am-i-a-patriot-nowhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/am-i-a-patriot-nowTue, 14 Jul 2026 23:07:29 GMTYou can always tell when a podcast host has a new book out, because they call in favours with all the other podcasts and all of a sudden you’re listening to 10 interviews with the same person in one week. But I don’t mind with , the former speechwriter for Barack Obama, because he usually has something interesting and intelligent to say. The new book he…

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]]><![CDATA[Illustrating the Amesbury Archer]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/illustrating-the-amesbury-archerhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/illustrating-the-amesbury-archerWed, 01 Jul 2026 20:18:45 GMTI mentioned in my lairy life update that I recently left my job doing the marketing for Butser Ancient Farm, which is sad because I have always loved working there. But on a happier note, part of that job also included all the in-house design work, and I’m hoping to continue doing some one-off creative projects for the farm on a freelance basis, which i…

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]]><![CDATA[Solstice Fires ]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/solstice-fireshttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/solstice-firesFri, 26 Jun 2026 11:33:13 GMT10pm / summer solstice

Over the top of our fire barrel, I can see the summit of Butser Hill.

I met the solstice dawn there this morning at 4.50am, my thighs a-burnin’ after completing a 12 mile hike along the South Downs Way to get there in time. Some local druids were there to perform a dawn ritual, praising the east wind and the hawks of dawn, etc. I l…

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]]><![CDATA[I'm all full of rage]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/im-all-full-of-ragehttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/im-all-full-of-rageMon, 22 Jun 2026 08:48:51 GMTDearest gentle reader, I can no longer write.

I have completely lost my capacity to write something just for me, without a brief or a call-to-action. My brain is like champagne effervescing in a bottle but the cork is stuck and nothing can get out but if it doesn’t get out my head will explode and I have tried to write a Substack post for the last nine …

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]]><![CDATA[Protest, Resistance & Rebirth at Greenham Common]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/protest-resistance-and-rebirth-athttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/protest-resistance-and-rebirth-atFri, 26 Sep 2025 20:24:50 GMTNothing screams ‘wholesome family outing’ like a trip to a Cold War decontamination suite.

Sunday was crisp and autumnal, so we packed up the kids and dogs and drove from the bottom of Hampshire to the top. The destination was Greenham Common in Thatcham - once a WWII airbase, then a Cold War missile base, home to a Women’s Peace Camp for 19 years, and …

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]]><![CDATA[How to Make Wild Bilberry Jam]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/how-to-make-wild-bilberry-jamhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/how-to-make-wild-bilberry-jamSat, 19 Jul 2025 12:02:37 GMTI’ve been neglecting my Substack again - sorry! Summer is just so insanely busy, and between kids’ birthday parties, evenings at the pub and attempting to be productive in the sweltering heat, it’s been nice to have time away from my screen after submitting my latest book last month (exciting). Most of our spare time as a family has been spent walking o…

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]]><![CDATA[5 medicinal plants already growing in your garden]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/5-medicinal-plants-already-growinghttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/5-medicinal-plants-already-growingMon, 02 Jun 2025 19:58:05 GMTI’m back into running at the moment. Adulthood brings inevitable turbulence, and we currently have a few things going on that have resulted in me completely switching off the news after weeks of monitoring it obsessively. Instead, I’ve been spending lots of time running outdoors with my dogs, listening to very little besides the beat of my trainers on h…

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]]><![CDATA[Sun Horse, Moon Horse]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/sun-horse-moon-horsehttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/sun-horse-moon-horseFri, 23 May 2025 11:27:16 GMTThis month, the beautiful indie publisher Manderley Press has released their latest title - and I’m honoured to say that I wrote the introduction!

Founded by literary superqueen Rebeka Russell, Manderley specialises in new editions of old, forgotten gems - stories from the last few decades that deserve a new lease of life.

Their latest is Sun Horse, Moo…

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]]><![CDATA[I wrote another book!]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/i-wrote-another-book-1c3https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/i-wrote-another-book-1c3Thu, 15 May 2025 04:32:18 GMTHappy publication day to my newest book, Concise Medicinal Plants! A pocket-sized guide to 163 medicinal plants found in the UK and Europe, it’s my second contribution to Bloomsbury’s Concise series after my bestselling Concise Foraging Guide was released in 2021.

I love being a contributor to the Concise series (and there may be a few more coming 🤫). T…

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]]><![CDATA[Harnessing the Beltain Energy]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/harnessing-the-beltain-energyhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/harnessing-the-beltain-energySun, 04 May 2025 19:14:31 GMTDid you have a lovely Beltain weekend? I listened to our local cuckoos calling, learnt the words to the maypole song from The Wickerman, made bread, did some illustration work, and of course! Went to the Beltain festival at Butser Ancient Farm, the highlight of my year - although we didn’t actually see the wickerman burn as our youngest is not yet able …

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]]><![CDATA[Pickling Wild Garlic Buds]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/pickling-wild-garlic-budshttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/pickling-wild-garlic-budsFri, 02 May 2025 12:20:01 GMTI live in a wild garlic hotspot, and for the last few years I’ve been meaning to pickle a few of the unopened flower buds to make an alternative to capers. I’m not usually one to advocate for picking wildflowers but when I say it’s a hotspot, it’s like Day of the Triffids out there.

Thanks for reading ANALOGUE by Tiffany Francis-Baker! Subscribe for fre…

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]]><![CDATA[I wrote another book!]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/i-wrote-another-bookhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/i-wrote-another-bookMon, 21 Apr 2025 10:38:38 GMTHappy Easter weekend! I’m pausing my own holy chocolate bender to bring you some exciting news… I have a new book published this week!

If you’ve enjoyed my book Ebb and Flow: A Guide to Seasonal Living, you’ll love this smaller sister book about connecting with the seasons - with a Japanese twist!

Thanks for reading ANALOGUE by Tiffany Francis-Baker! Su…

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]]><![CDATA[Would you drink a youth elixir?]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/would-you-drink-a-youth-elixirhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/would-you-drink-a-youth-elixirFri, 04 Apr 2025 21:22:41 GMTDave and I really entered elderly millennial territory the other day when we started discussing the latest fashion choices made by ‘the youths’. Fashion, as we all know, is an ever-turning wheel of recycled trends, and at the moment the kidz appear to be recycling the nineties. It’s all combat trousers and baggy tops, and I’ll be honest, I’m pleased for…

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]]><![CDATA[Around the States in 50 Films: Falling Down]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/around-the-states-in-50-films-fallinghttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/around-the-states-in-50-films-fallingSun, 30 Mar 2025 20:57:41 GMT

The second post in my dabble with American cinema is all about the 1993 psychological thriller Falling Down, directed by Joel Schumacher of The Lost Boys and Phone Booth fame. It stars Michael Douglas as an unemployed defence worker who becomes violently frustrated with the everyday flaws and injustices he encounters within the hot and sweaty Los Angele…

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]]><![CDATA[What I dream about when I dream about the future]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/what-i-dream-about-when-i-dream-abouthttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/what-i-dream-about-when-i-dream-aboutThu, 20 Mar 2025 11:23:24 GMTLast summer I wrote about making crème de cassis using the blackcurrants in my sister’s garden. They moved in nearly two years ago and inherited a lovely patch of land overlooking farm fields and open skies, and in the corner the old lady who lived there before had built walk-in fruit cages for growing blackcurrants, raspberries and gooseberries. I went…

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]]><![CDATA[5 Beautiful Novels to Read This Spring]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/5-beautiful-novels-to-read-this-springhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/5-beautiful-novels-to-read-this-springThu, 13 Mar 2025 21:15:32 GMTI had my first experience of flu last week. I have nothing to report other than it really, really sucked. Fevers, night sweats, lack of sleep, horrible cough, headache and a foggy feeling of fug still lingering. And most cruelly of all, I lost my appetite. What joy is there in a world without the anticipation of a good dins? Fortunately I’m now through …

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]]><![CDATA[Hello from the Other Side (of postnatal depression)]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/hello-from-the-other-side-of-postnatalhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/hello-from-the-other-side-of-postnatalTue, 04 Mar 2025 14:01:21 GMTThe daffodils are beginning to bloom in our garden just as I have started halving my daily dose of sertraline. It is the third time I’ve weaned myself off, and my god, I hope it’s the last. Sertraline is a common type of anti-depressant known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (or SSRI for short), which increases the levels of serotonin in your…

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]]><![CDATA[Around the States in 50 Films: The Florida Project]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/around-the-states-in-50-films-thehttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/around-the-states-in-50-films-theSat, 01 Mar 2025 20:52:19 GMT

I’ve become so fascinated in American history and culture over the last few years, I actually looked into doing a Masters degree in American Studies before realising I have neither time nor money to pursue such an indulgence. Fortunately, books are a much cheaper way to learn, and one of the best I’ve read on the subject in recent years is The Unwinding…

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]]><![CDATA[How to Make a Starry Night Lantern]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/how-to-make-a-starry-night-lanternhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/how-to-make-a-starry-night-lanternWed, 26 Feb 2025 19:45:54 GMTSomewhere over the rainclouds, the days are beginning to lengthen here in the UK. In celebration of the first signs of spring, I thought I’d share one of the crafts from my latest book Ebb and Flow: A Guide to Seasonal Living, published last autumn with Bloomsbury. This simple craft is a great way to repurpose old soup and baked-bean cans, leaving you w…

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]]><![CDATA[The Curious Case of American Exceptionalism]]>https://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/the-curious-case-of-american-exceptionalismhttps://www.tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/p/the-curious-case-of-american-exceptionalismSat, 22 Feb 2025 18:53:12 GMTI was nine years old when the September 11 attacks happened, but it’s one of my earliest recollections of being aware of the United States of America. The significance of the event escaped me at the time, but I remember coming home from school and thinking it was strange that all the TV channels were looping the same news footage (except BBC 2 which was playing the Tweenies). As a British kid, I grew up with a vision of the US as the ‘leaders of the free world’. That ‘city upon a hill’, a phrase taken from the Sermon on the Mount, has come to symbolise a nation in which good Christian values can be demonstrated for all the world to see - and be exposed if they should fail. The expectation that this New World nation, free from the shackles of Old World feudalism, might pioneer a social foundation from which the future of civilisation could grow, fertilised with hard work, ambition and decency.

Throughout history, global proponents of American exceptionalism have believed that the US has a unique mission to transform the world, based on some or all of the core principles of the American Revolution: Liberty, individualism, republicanism, democracy, meritocracy and laissez-faire economics. Above all, it was the idea of the ‘Great American Experiment’ that shaped the exceptionalism idea; the United States’ venture into self-government and democracy, breaking away from powerful British rule in the 18th century and creating their own constitution to guarantee the rights of all its citizens. In the words of the Declaration of Independence:

‘All men are created equal… with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’

A blank slate, forward vision, good values and hard work add up to a great experiment indeed, and one definitely worth pursuing. But the question is, at what point do you conclude that the experiment has failed?

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