Journal
Migration of the Painted Lady Butterfly
These painted lady butterflies are soon to arrive in the UK and their migration story is truly amazing. I read about it recently in Lia Leendertz's Almanac, here's the excerpt: "High above our heads, great clouds of painted lady butterflies are arriving on summer...
Nests and Baskets
It was made and laid last spring, during the first lockdown, in a town centre shrub, barely concealed, and less than half a metre from the ground. It was a time when there were few humans (or their dogs) on the streets, and would have been a good location... but then...
Making an Oak Swill
One of the first things you notice about Owen Jones, apart from his friendly, relaxed demeanor, is his hands: huge and work-worn. They've definitely seen some years of graft. I'm at his workshop in Cumbria, to make an oak swill. This is a traditional split wood basket...
Archaeologists Making Baskets
A crisp cold November morning and I'm meeting a group of archaeologists at Fort Cumberland in Portsmouth for a day of basketmaking. During our discussions and through the making itself, a couple of very interesting revelations happen over the day, which make...
Fibre & Clay in the Wild
In conversation with No Serial Number Magazine, a publication which explores environmental sustainability through traditional crafts and innovative design. We discuss my practice: my relationship to the landscape where I forage my materials, and about coping with the...
Looped Cordage: Netted Bags
After a day of making cordage from foraged plant fibres, my grubby fingernails show evidence of all the separating and scraping. Once you're committed to the steady, repetitive nature of prepping and twining cordage, it's a deeply satisfying process. So much so that...
Forage of the Month
Forage of the Month- Oct/Nov
Birch PolyporeThis is the wild mushroom that's in the soup we cook on the fire for lunch on my woodland courses. Birch Polypore (Fomitopsis betulina) is also known as razor strop fungus, birch conk, birch bracket. My herbalist friend Lucinda Warner describes its...
Forage of the Month -October
Beech Nuts Beech trees are beautiful for so many reasons! Where I grew up, near the Chilterns in South Oxfordshire, we roamed in beech woods during bluebell season, and in the autumn when their fallen leaves glow copper. For other creatures and plants, beech woodland...
Forage of the Month – September
Fruit Leather Fruit leather is a really popular snack and easy to carry around with you. It's basically thin, pliable sheets of dehydrated fruit puree with a flexible consistency (like leather). But don't buy it in the shops because it's incredibly simple to make your...