HEDGEWITCH ADVENTURES Blog

Hi all, I’ll be running a special fundraising Autumn Forage on Sun 19th Nov. All funds raised go to help UNICEF UK give aid to children in Gaza that are caught in the conflict. Learn about what you can eat from the wilderness, and support aid to victims of the Gaza bombardment. There will be…

After my wild swim with the Blue tits last week, I noticed several plant members of the Witch’s garden growing around the car park. Methinks somebody has done some secret sowing… (Probably someone whose Mum won’t let them keep it in the house.) Here’s what I found: TOBACCO (Nicotiana) The Tobacco plant is the most…

It’s not just food you can get out of our native plants. Stuck for soap or laundry detergent? Here’s two plants you can find in most places that will sort you out with soap. Horse chestnut and Ivy both contain saponins. These are technically mild poisons. The plant makes them to prevent you eating it.…

Some highlights from last Sat 21st’s Autumn Forage with Tapas Tasters. The new autumn Menu was: Rowan Jelly Soy & Sesame Burdock Root Battered Spiced Crabapples Horseradish Sauce Real Horseradish sauce is far hotter than anything you will find on the supermarket shelves! If you want your sinuses cleared, make wild foraged sauce. For the…

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…