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I AM NETTLE. The Blood, the Iron, The Hearth; Woman , man; Heart-beat, quiver and quim, Stretch and knot, Massage and hot. I give pulse to things long dead Fence past my forms so cruel And there are things to savour; Tongues of flavour Long distance memories of raves and crazy I AM NETTLE I…

The scene…a golden afternoon in June, at a local muddy pond.  The character, a thin ragged yet energetic female leaps off her bike with Midas like glee and pushes down a thickening trail of turquoise-green leaf spears taller than her plaited head, broad soled battered brown sandals squelching and sinking into the mire.  After a…

Have been photographing mycological mysteries whilst legging it about after my son (and preventing him eating said mysteries).   In order to identify a mushroom, these factors can mean the difference between life and death… Some of these are: Measurements – cap diameter straight across the fullest part, entire height of mushroom. Smell – fruity…

Having just returned from my, ahem, research trip to Crete, where i sampled many of the local delicacies, which included semi-feral food garnered from the neatly planted beds and borders of the posh resort where we stayed.  Though the resort staff disagreed with my plan to harvest honey from a bees nest in a carob…

Sorrel – (lemony flavour) add to a cocktail skewer of hard boiled egg, and olives. Use as you would lemon! Plaintain – add seeds to biscuits, stir fries, bread Reedmace- Dig up the rhizome in autumn –winter, roast, good source of carbs. Ash – seeds, peel then pickle when green Fairy Ring Champignon mushroom –…

Hedgewitch Adventures @ Linford Lakes Nature Reserve Autumn Wildfood Cookery 2016 Menu: Wild Seed Damper Bread with Nettle Pesto Comfrey Fritters Roasted Reedmace Roots Clay & Leaf Baked Trout with Wild Horseradish, Crabapple and Honey Clay Baked Hazelnut & Crabapple Stuffed Squash Hogweed Pannacotta with Wild Berries Damper Bread: 300g self raising flour 75g butter…

In the murky fulsomeness of Leighton’s canals and river, armoured, scuttling food lurks.  I dont often go in for animal protein, more due to the fact I am crap at catching stuff rather than having any ethical boundary on this.  However, in a survival situation, (or if you, like me, have overspent this month on…

My beautifully illustrated (by Mervyn Peake) copy is gifted to ‘Lynn, from Uncle Gordon, Istanbul, 1955’, with a golden tan cover printed in rich burgundy and dark green palms, ships and huts.  Dogs, guns and ‘savages’ grace the inside cover. Throughout this swashbuckling family adventure our heroes master the tropical island they become stranded on…

So around our lovely River Ouse (and in the back yards of various businesses, and on most waysides) stands the tall silvery turquoise spears of mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris).  Mugwort is related to Wormwood -remember Kylie Minogue’s Green Fairy in Moulin Rouge!, hence the distinctive deeply lobed, branched leaves with silvery undersides, and small flowers bunched…

Im talking about Typha latifolia, better known as Reedmace or even Bulrush.  You will know it.  The reed with its fat brown hot dog sausages poking skyward.  And for the record, its NOT a true Bulrush…for you plant geeks out there, that honour goes to Sciripus species which are not as memorable or cute! Reedmace…