Spring foraging

It struck me this last week, what an amazing spring we are having this year. The beautiful array of flowers has been staggering and very much in abundance. For the likes of us foragers, this has meant more delicious pickings :-) So, I thought I would share some of the FREE pickings available to us all to nibble and share.

I have been foraging for many years now, I'm not entirely sure when it started or how exactly but thinking back was probably about twelve or so years ago when I began to experiment with hedgerow jams. When you become enthused with things you naturally want to absorb all the information surrounding that area of interest. So I'm guessing it started with berries and then spread to leaves and other tasty hedgerow finds. Yum!
There's a lot out there and it can be very daunting when you first start out. My advice is (and this is what I practise myself) just get out there and have a wander around. Look at the verges when you go out walking and see how many species of plant you can already identify. You may surprise yourself. What I used to believe to be a mass of weeds now has become a collection of nourishing pickings and as well as the nutritional value, when you explore wild plants further, there are many medicinal qualities about them and much interesting folklore to be intrigued by too.
My ability to take in vast amounts of information; and remember it at any one time, has never been great. Therefore, the way that I have learnt so much over the years is to add about three different species to my repertoire a year.
This year my best new discovery has been Hogweed. Now Hogweed comes in two varieties (I'm sure there are more but these are the two that you need to know). Standard Hogweed and Giant Hogweed. Standard, is the stuff that you are most likely to see out and about and now that I have identified it I realise that it really is everywhere.

Giant Hogweed is enormous! Apparently it was brought over to the UK as an ornamental plant and grows mainly by water. If you need to familiarise yourself do look it up.
When I googled Hogweed; just to confirm that it is safe to eat, I discovered that top British chefs are trying to establish it on the menus of some of the top London restaurants!
You do need to pick this stuff with gloves, not because it stings but because there is something within it that can cause skin irritation especially if the sun reacts with it. This is not a problem for everyone and once cooked is not a reason for alarm, it's merely a precaution.



I fried up some young shoots in a little butter (choose the young over the old as they will be more succulent) and they are rather tasty!

The next plants that you may find in abundance are dandelions. We used to feed these to our bunnies when I was a child. They have quite a bitter taste but if you pick the young shoots and combine them in a salad they are pretty tasty. You can eat the flowers too! Apparently the sap of the plant is good for ridding one of warts ( a poultice of cider vinegar works well for warts too).

Another plant that is quite new to my repertoire this year is Cow Parsley. It's a member of the celery family and can be found growing virtually everywhere at this time of the year. There are some similar poisonous plant varieties so best familiarise yourself before tucking in. The trick I have discovered is that if you pick the plant, the stem is C shaped. The leaves also smell very much like celery if you rub them.

 

 

Do you see the nettle in the foreground? They are amazingly nutritious and are particularly tasty made up into a soup :-)

Hmmm, one of my springtime faves....'Jack by the Hedge' or 'Garlic mustard' as it is often referred. 

I've noticed in the last few days that this plant is currently in flowering mode. Again, look it up if you want to be sure.

This is a picture of one of the flower beds in my front garden. Hmmm pretty weedy hey! Well, right in the centre there you can see quite a lot of Ground Elder. For many gardeners it is seen as a real pain but it is in fact edible and can be used much in the same way as spinach.

A close up :-)

Here's another garden weed right on my doorstep. Clevers/Sticky Willy/Goose Grass. It's the stuff that sticks to you and was the inspiration behind Velcro....useless information!

Small shoots chopped up and added to a salad are tasty but the thinker, older plants...well, they just get stuck in your throat!

One more......

Hawthorn. Right now the blossom is just opening too. The flowers are really tasty and together with the leaves they used to be considered the 'bread and cheese' of the hedgerow.

Okay.....another one slipped in!

Primroses....pretty aren't they. The flowers are fully edible and look lovely added to salads. You can dip them in egg white and then sugar to crystallise them too for cake decorations.

So here it is, my lovely Spring foraged salad. Yummy!

Really scrumptious when accompanied by some stuffed pasta, beetroot and apple bread, halloumi cheese and a little pesto (garlic if you've been lucky enough to find some!). XX

Autumn bumblings

Finally, I have happily come to accept that the Summer is well and truly over and Autumn is fully in its moment. I find it hard sometimes when the seasons change, mainly from Summer to Autumn; especially if you don't feel that the season has displayed its beauty to the full extent. This year the colours of Autumn are totally amazing! It's easy to imagine that each of the seasons is very clear cut and distinctively the same. They share similarities but if you take the time to observe, you will see very obvious differences.

This year the colours seem more vibrant somehow. The large sycamore tree en route to our house is a blaze with a rainbow of colours, I love driving past and admiring how striking it is against the back drop of buildings.

Last weekend, I was invited to take part in a worship at The Sanctuary - a corner of a farm field near Stow in Gloucester. My lovely friend and I spent a day in a beautiful area of the country in the company of a very inspiring 'wise woman' who knows everything 'herby'. She's been using herbs in everyday living for years and runs her workshops to pass on her knowledge- I do love that idea!
We started the day tasting samples of tea made from stewing various freely available herbs; marigolds, rose hips...to name just a few.
Following the tea we were shown around the 'plots'. My knowledge of herbs increases every year just a little. There really are so many plants out there growing wild that can be harvested and eaten or used to help people. I do find it amazing how nature knows best how to keep us well. Allopathic (or modern medicine) is a chemical mix of ingredients that aim to mimic the natural effects of herbs, some still contain herbal derivatives. In years gone by herbs would have been the only way of treating the sick.

So the plots.....the lady who runs this affair with the help of a very enthusiastic team of inspired women, plant and tend many herbs throughout the year which they then harvest and make into tinctures, salves, balms, teas, elixirs etc etc all very interesting!
I've spent hours in the past, collecting, drying, infusing and much more to make concoctions to treat my family when they succumb to everyday ailments. Then either they don't get sick (which is obviously great) or they become sick and in my haste I reach for the nearest thing available (not always my lovingly created herby concoction) to treat them; if I treat them at all!
After being shown around the plots, we were encouraged to do a little harvesting. It wasn't the warmest of mornings so I opted to wield the spade in an attempt to warm up. I drew the short straw and ended up among the nettles trying to decipher the nettles from the elecampage; a root which is used to treat respiratory problems. It was actually easier than I thought to relieve the soil of the roots and I managed to refrain from being attacked by the vicious nettles that were taller than me!
Roots extracted and they needed washing. Cold water is a no no for me these days. As a sufferer of Raynard's disease I'm not a fan of plunging my hands into cold water. The damp alone is enough to shut down the veins to my fingers and it takes quite some time to regain feeling in my little digits.
It was rather lovely to stand back and leave the root washing to someone else who doesn't suffer with the ghastly 'circulation shut down'. It turned out she was a police officer re-training to do Holistic massage. I'm considering this field myself as a means of making ends meet (that's the massage and not being police officer!), so we had much to talk about and I was able to draw on her experience. I do love the company of inspirational people!
Following lunch we were told to make a connection with one of the sanctuary's trees. Yes i know, this is where things do get just a little bit wacky! However, I do actually believe that every living thing has energy and so to be in the company of a large tree that has graced the earth and undoubtedly experienced far more than me was actually rather pleasant and a peaceful affair. I opted for the most enormous oak tree that had an incredible trunk that wound up and than turned at an angle. I was fortunate that there was a bench around the base so I took the opportunity to lie on  it and look up at its splendour. If you've never laid under a tree before and looked up and the amazing sight above than give it a go. Trees are incredible!
This one was no exception, it was so healthy and strong and didn't even move just a little in the wind. It stood there like solid rock. We were told that it takes 3-400 years to reach full size and a similar amount of time to die. I could only look on with admiration.
Secondly I took to exploring a hawthorn tree. This one seemed wispy and fragile in comparison yet at the same time had energy. I likened it to the wise woman who had knowledge to impart and thus gave it my respect.
It's funny but about five years ago I discovered a spinney of beech trees on a hill in the park near my home. One of the trees had fallen and had come to rest in the perfect position to enable me to lay on its trunk and gaze up at the splendour of the trees that towered above. It was a very significant place that I loved to visit. Sometimes I would walk the dog up there, other times I would take the children and most often I would visit alone. That fallen tree was the perfect resting place to sit upon and breathe in the fresh country air or to gain the perfect view across the valley. It was also the perfect balance beam and when no one was looking I would dance and cartwheel on that log. One day when the estate was sold. The new owner had that trunk sawn up into large pieces and moved around the field to become horse jumps. That place was never the same after that.  

So our day of inspiration from herbs and lovely people continued and was concluded with the sharing of the days harvest bounty. We each got to take home roots, apples, flowers and even a few quince! (I shall give quince cheese a go :-)) Not sure what the plumber thought recently when he came to fix my immersion heater and found my airing cupboard fully of drying roots and marigold petals??!!