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The Mushroom Hour Podcast

I was in a podcast with the lovely Darren from Welcome to Mushroom Hour. Bless him for listening to my ramblings half way through my wild food year, eating nothing… Read More

Is sweet woodruff poisonous?

Posts about sweet woodruff are often accompanied by toxicity warnings and advice not to take it with warfarin or to check with your doctor first. So I thought an article… Read More

Books about Foraging

When starting your foraging journey it helps to go out with people who can teach you in person and there are lots of great courses around the country (and the… Read More

New Year Resolutions for a Green Planet

Out with the old. In with the new. Here are ten little everyday resolutions to save the planet. Just imagine the effect if we ALL did them!!! If every single… Read More

I recently received the following letter from Paul Lister, contemplating the lessons that we need to learn from the coronavirus outbreak and our relationship with nature. Paul runs the Alladale… Read More

How to make Nettle Cheese

This is a light cheese made with a nettle rennet and cow’s milk. Using a vegetable rennet rather than calf rennet allows you to make a vegetarian cheese. There are… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

The Mushroom Hour Podcast

I was in a podcast with the lovely Darren from Welcome to Mushroom Hour. Bless him for listening to my ramblings half way through my wild food year, eating nothing… Read More

Safety of plant toxins

Is sweet woodruff poisonous?

Posts about sweet woodruff are often accompanied by toxicity warnings and advice not to take it with warfarin or to check with your doctor first. So I thought an article… Read More

Fungi, Hedgerow, Seaweeds

Books about Foraging

When starting your foraging journey it helps to go out with people who can teach you in person and there are lots of great courses around the country (and the… Read More

Concerns for a Planet, Thoughts and Musings

New Year Resolutions for a Green Planet

Out with the old. In with the new. Here are ten little everyday resolutions to save the planet. Just imagine the effect if we ALL did them!!! If every single… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

Nature’s Red Card

Wild Food Recipes, Wild Medicine Info

How to make Nettle Cheese

This is a light cheese made with a nettle rennet and cow’s milk. Using a vegetable rennet rather than calf rennet allows you to make a vegetarian cheese. There are… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

Spring Wildflowers

Tis pleasant ‘mid the never-ending strife Of this too busy, mammon-loving age, When Nature’s gentler charms so few engage, To muse at leisure on the quiet life Of earlier days,… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

The Birth of a New World

How can I speak of hope when so many have died? The tragedy is that those who have passed are all the beloved of someone who lives to mourn them.… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

As Old as the Trees

Today I’m doing housework. A bit of a shock for friends who know me well! A few weeks ago I did a wild food event for Hendricks Gin. A pop-up… Read More

plantsarecool, Thoughts and Musings

Gratitude for the Plants

The more I work with the plants, the more I become eternally grateful for what they give to us. They have an uncanny knack of being in exactly the right… Read More

Concerns for a Planet, Thoughts and Musings

Now is the Time for Action

Now is the Time for Action. You. yes, you! What you do to the Earth, you do to yourself. Our only chance of survival is through restoring vital connection between people and planet. This...

Concerns for a Planet, plantsarecool, Thoughts and Musings

Restoring Wild Connection podcast

Enjoy a podcast? Miles Irving of Forager Ltd chats with me on restoring vital connection, rewilding, wild philosophy, gut flora, health and a love of plants. Click here to listen… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

Angel wings fungus. Angel of death?

Here in Scotland the beautiful, fragile, delicate angel wings mushrooms are forming on the rotting stumps of old pine. They’re exquisite to look at especially around sunset when catching the… Read More

Edible Fungi, Wild Medicine Info

Chicken of the Woods

Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) within reach! This particular one was a tad too dry to eat sadly, however it can still be powdered and added to a campfire… Read More

Thoughts and Musings

Thoughts on the Winter Solstice

On Thursday 21 December at 16:28 GMT the sun reaches the position of the Winter Solstice. The word ‘solstice’ comes from the Latin solstitium meaning ‘sun standing still’. It is the… Read More

All Recipes, Wild Food Recipes

Cooking with seaweed not tin foil

I’m on a mission to manage without tin foil when cooking, roasting and baking. Have you every thought about what goes into that shiny roll of foil paper? Firstly, you… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

Cooking with seaweed instead of tin foil

I’m on a mission to manage without tin foil when cooking, roasting and baking. Have you every thought about what goes into that shiny roll of foil paper? Firstly, you… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

Foragers: Friend or Foe?

This article appeared in the first edition of LOCAVORE MAGAZINE. A wonderful journal packed full of interesting and insightful articles about slow, seasonal and sustainable food. If you hadn’t noticed… Read More

All Recipes, Wild Food Recipes

Chilli Haw Ketchup

This is one helluva ketchup meets brown sauce baby. There is nothing like Chilli Haw Ketchup to put some fire in the belly this winter. It’s got an amazing taste,… Read More

Inedible Fungi

Wrinkled club fungus

Clavulina rugosa Phylum: Basidiomycota – Class: Agaricomycetes – Order: Cantharellales – Family: Clavulinaceae.

Inedible Fungi, Wild Medicine Info

Yellow earth tongue

Spathularia flavida Also known as the yellow fan, this fungus is a member of the club fungi and found in mixed conifer forests in mosses and decaying leaf or needle… Read More

All Recipes, Wild Food Recipes

Clover crispbreads recipe

Clover crispbreads – from ideally red but also white clover – are a delicious and surprisingly easy way to eat your lawn. I was introduced to these by my very… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

Vegetarian artichoke rennet

Here is a lovely cheese developing from goats milk curdled with immature artichoke seed. For more about wild and vegetarian rennets see my long blog post here. Curds after cutting. … Read More

plantsarecool

Chemicals in plants – cyanide

Hydrogen cyanide (aka hydrocyanic acid) has a faint bitter-almond scent – although not everyone can smell it, due to a recessive gene. It is released in plants by compounds called… Read More

Thoughts and Musings, Wild Nutrition Facts

Variety, the superspice of life

Variety, we are told in the popular expression, is the spice of life. However, we are missing something today and I’d like to rewrite that old saying. I would argue… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

Cooking with Comfrey

Today I’ve been eating a comfrey ratatouille. This was partly inspired by Ivan Van Rooyen’s comment on my post ‘Is comfrey edible?” He said “My family and I have been… Read More

All Recipes, Seaweeds, Wild Food Recipes, Wild Nutrition Facts

Seaweed Lasagne Recipe

Whether you want to go gluten-free or just to add a fantastic source of iodine, vitamins and minerals to your diet, seaweed pasta is a great alternative to durum wheat… Read More

Seaweeds, Wild Food Recipes

How to cook Sea Spaghetti

Thongweed (Himanthalia elongata) is called sea spaghetti because it really does turn out like pasta! It can be eaten on its own or mixed with spaghetti, cooked and added to… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

Forest trips help asthma and allergies

Asthma and atopic dermatitis are common allergic diseases, and their prevalence has increased in urban children. Recently, it is becoming understood that forest environment has favourable health effects in patients… Read More

Wild Medicine Info

Escape from the City to the Sea

To discover the peace and tranquility of Lambay and let the wildness of nature restore your body and mind, get away from the… Read More