Journal
Making an Ash Pack Basket
For ages I've been wanting to make a pack, or back, basket from wood splints. They're best made in the spring when the sap's rising, so earlier this year I took a trip to the woods near Bath for a few days to make one. There's a long tradition of black ash splint...
Foraging Plants for Wild Basketry; weaving a connection between land and self
‘Plants are integral to reweaving the connection between land and people. A place becomes a home when it sustains you, when it feeds you in body as well as spirit.’ (Robin Wall Kimmerer) There’s an arable field margin under two ancient oaks that is species-rich with...
Wild Pottery: Clay- digging your own
One of the things that makes my Wild Pottery courses ‘wild’ is that we dig our own clay from the land What is Clay? Ask this of anyone and they’ll most likely reply ‘mud’. But there’s a bit more to it than that. It’s made up of one or more clay minerals with traces of...
Nests in Nets
I've returned to Wakehurst on a bright autumn day to see if the rumours are true. One of my areas of research for this project was looking at nests. And that's why I'm back today. I've heard birds have nested in the work I made. My godson showed me a blurry photo on...
A Song for all Foraging
It’s a busy time for foraging plant materials right now. The plants have made all the vegetative growth they’re going to make this year. And now they’re setting seed. Over the past months I’ve logged key spots in my mental map of the neighbourhood, spots where certain...
Stonehenge: Neolithic Basketry
During the Neolithic time at Stonehenge, there would have been willows growing on the banks of the river Avon, which ran right by the houses situated at nearby Durrington Walls. These are the Neolithic dwellings that have been reconstructed at Stonehenge visitors...
Forage of the Month
Forage of the Month- November
Rosehip Vinegar This is a favourite, super-easy recipe. It comes from 'Hedgerow Medicine' by friends Julie and Matthew Bruton-Seal. Recipes for rose hip syrup abound...but if you want to preserve their goodness without using sugar this is the recipe for you. Last...
Forage of the Month – Sept/Oct
Fruit Leather Fruit leather is a really popular snack and easy to carry around with you. It's basically thin, pliable sheets of fruit puree with a flexible consistency (like leather). Don't buy it in the shops because it's incredibly simple to make your own. Now is...
Forage of the Month- September
Elderberries ripe elderberries Elderberry Elixir: this is one of my all-time favourite elderberry recipes, and it comes from Lucinda Warner at Whispering Earth. It's a long-lasting and delicious preparation that Lucinda describes as 'warming your wintery cockles'... I...