I’m not even sure what to call this post as I’ve been up to so much, its difficult to narrow it down. So here’s some of the low impact nature and off grid things you might like to try in June, that freshest of Summer months.

New bushcraft friends South African Marco and Vita showed Marty how to light fires with both old and new style flint and steel. He explored how to catch sparks with char cloth. The lad is far more interested in fire than plants! South Africans really know their bushcraft.

I’ve been experimenting with new tasty treats for my Blue Lagoon foraging courses. Here’s to giving Lovage (Ligusticum sps) some love with Lovage Cream Sauce and crispy Pea & Lovage Potato Croquettes. (I do wish I had a blender sometimes.) Next up is Lovage Virgin/Bloody Marys, depending on what one has to do the next day.

There’s two types of Lovage, both can be used in a culinary way but one has an even more powerful super-celery flavour than the other.

Watch out for more tapas from such wonders as Common/Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenium/japonica) and Reedmace (Typha latifolia/augusta)

It’s time to harvest, dry and steep Comfrey ( leaves in olive oil for my Herbal Medicine courses. This is the ‘cold infusion’ method which can take 6 weeks. We’ll be making a beeswax salve out of this.

Comfrey contains allantoin, a compound scientifically proven to aid deep tissue repair. That’s torn ligaments, muscles, broken bones, bruising. This is why it was known as ‘knitbone’ in times of yore.

Instead of baking a boring jacket potato for Marty’s food tech, we swapped to making Burdock Toffee. Burdock grows freely in my garden, a little too freely I may add. Obviously we are meant to eat it.

Not only are the roots delicious, with a flavour of aniseed parsnip – they are also medicinal. Burdock helps evacuate toxins from the liver and cells. I’m not sure how healthy it is as toffee, but it has a lovely taste of aniseed and Marty kept asking for more. I felt great the next day too.

Warning. Toffee is a pain in the behind to make if you do not have a cooking thermometer. If you get it wrong, it either:

1. Does not set

2. Dissolves into crumble

3. Becomes a washing-up resistant cement that could have protected doomed submersible Titan from the ravages of the deep ocean.

Last but not least, I have 2 commissions to write articles on Off Grid Fridges for Bushcraft Magazine (UK) and Backwoods Home (US). Yes, you don’t need powered appliances to keep food cool. If poo hits the proverbial fan and the UK has a power outage, I’ll be alright Jack with my Zeer Pot in the boat and Root Cellar/Ground Fridge in the garden.

I’ll be exploring some other options too and comparing the pros, cons and efficiency of each. Cue terrible selfie. I hate selfies.

Remember, if you would like to learn more, the links for Summer Foraging and Herbal Medicine are on this blog in the posts and on my Hedgewitch Adventures page as well as Eventbrite.

Happy June

xx Hedgewitch Kat xx