Me and Marty discovered Shaggy Parasols and Puffballs at Ashridge NT. Below are some Puffballs They can be white or tan, but should always have no stem, be firm, and be solid white (WITH NO GILLS) when you cut them open. The Common Puffballs we picked (Lycoperdum perlatum) had a sweet little white ‘crumble topping’.…

How to get that hawthorn goodness down you and the kids, without the bland factor? I’ve been experimenting with Chinese recipes for Haw Balls. Chinese hawthorn is more tangy and strongly flavoured than our native Crataegus monogyna. so I’ve added elderberry oxymel and some spices to jazz things up a little. Will my son and…

Sloes…what can you do with them, besides steeping them in gin? As someone who does not enjoy the icky flavour of gin and tonic, nor the astringency of sloes, here was a challenge I could not back away from. Ray Mears and Prof Gordon Hillman experimented with curing sloes by mashing them up with a…

The walnuts on the road up to Southcott school are ready! Head up there and look for the ones with a crack appearing in the green pool table like casing. Below you can see what the leaves look like. Take them home and crack them with a nut cracker…DONT try to use your teeth, even…

Some of us well-versed in fairy tales may remember a tale about the soldier who made Stone Soup for a King. Starting with nothing, the soldier proclaimed the plain water “delicious” and asked for just a little bit of onion to accompany it. After that he asked for just a bit of sausage, carrot, cabbage,…

Here’s some shorter foraging courses suitable for young children. The route is shorter, but there’s still lots to smell, feel and see! These are also cheaper – always helpful in these times. Remember, this knowledge can cut your food bills. It’s an investment for the future… Follow the Eventbrite link for child 5-15 tickets (half…

Autumn dates coming up! Book now! (No pressure). Follow the link for child tickets. It’s half price for children 5 to 15. Under 5s are free. Check out “Autumn Foraging With Tapas Tasters” on Eventbrite! Date: Sat, 21 Oct, 14:00 Location: Tiddenfoot Waterside Park, off Mentmore Rd, Leighton Buzzard

I discovered a patch of wild Red poppies (NOT the Opium kind) round the back of Homebase whilst searching for firewood. These badlands make great poppy habitat. Poppies grow in disturbed soil and wasteland. That’s why they grew in Flanders Fields in France. Back at my boat I flicked off the top of the cases…

Urinary tract infections. They’re not fun. Normally, the doctor will pump you full of antibiotics. This works, but has negative effects on your gut bacteria. What kills bad bacteria will also kill good bacteria. Luckily, there are herbs you can take to combat UTI’s, as they are known in care homes and hospitals. Just go…

Thought I’d challenge myself here as historically I’ve been crap at firelighting. I mean, I can pull out a BIC and some newspaper and chuck veg oil on kindling, but apart from that, nope. Got stuck on a rock in my Fiesta on the way there and almost didn’t find the place. Luckily Lizzie came…