That's right - Gilbert wrote about this yesterday: bsky.app/profile/gilb...

This is a spellbinding piece by Hilary Mantel, on chronic illness and childlessness.

Hilary Mantel · Memories of Catriona

What I would have liked was a choice in life. Leisure, to reverse my earlier decision that children didn’t matter to...

I wonder if it might be to do with crop rotation, so a crop of wheat sown after a year of turnips?

The only reference I could find was in the OED, but you need a subscription to access the meaning and etymology: www.oed.com/dictionary/t... "OED's earliest evidence for turnip wheat is from 1779, in Farmer's Magazine" Perhaps they should look at The Natural History of Selborne!

turnip wheat, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary

turnip wheat, n. meanings, etymology, pronunciation and more in the Oxford English Dictionary