The healthy forager

As I’m typing this, I’m sipping from a glass of delicious blackberry wine! Last summer produced a glut in pretty much all fruits, and with 2kg of blackberries (from a single bush!) still in our freezer, we decided to turn in into a wonderful alcoholic concoction. I don’t quite know what percentage it is, but going by the way the letters are dancing on my computer screen, I’d say about 12 ;-). We called it Candyglirach Reserve, named after the location the blackberries were picked.

We tasted some other delights today as well. Early this morning I walked round the James Hutton Institute and found White Butterbur and Wild Garlic in abundance. I took a video to show you:

The resulting dish was delicious:

In the afternoon we cycled out to Leuchar Moss to see if we could spot ravens. We’ve seen and heard them there on a few occasions. In terms of the wood itself, it has been pretty much destroyed by storm Arwen in December. John called it a ‘tree cemetery’. Only larches and trees around the periphery remain. Still, life thrives here. Woodpeckers drum, kites soar, buzzards ‘wheeeuw’. On the southside of the wood, out of the wind, we found a bank of gorse. The smell reminded us of the time we first met, almost 18 years ago. Walking on the moors together, sniffing the same flower and both coming to the conclusion that it was ‘coconut’. There’s something incredibly romantic about sharing a sensory experience like that. And since then we have learnt that gorse flowers (Ulex europaeus) also make excellent tea! I’m planning to dry some to add to my dandelions.

And finally, a non-edible but one that touched our heartstrings today. A fallen larch, once magnificent and proud, still came into flower this week. Drawing water from the roots that are still in the ground, the flowers seem to say ‘beaten but not defeated’. I salute you, larch!