The healthy forager

During the first lockdown of 2020, John and I felt a bit boisterous and actually nicked a larch tree from a forest. To be fair, it was a very small tree (it fit into a rucksack) and it grew in a precarious position. Back home we planted it at the top end of the lawn where it would be alright for a decade or two. Since then, I’ve been marvelling at its rapid growth – it’s now nearly as tall as John. I noticed that each year the bark produces its own pattern and you can use this to work out the tree’s age. Let me show you (in a forest near Glassel):

Together with birches and Scots pine, larches are my favourite trees. I never get tired of looking at their bark and in the Spring, stroking their newly emerging needles that feel lovely and soft.

Larches are not edible, but Velvet shanks are! I know I’ve written about these before, but this weekend I found such a wonderful “kebab”, which I feel compelled to share:

The bright yellow mushroom at the bottom is called Yellow Brain – a name so apt that I might have have given it that myself if I hadn’t known! It’s not edible.

We’re sitting by the fire now after a day out in the elements – the cold wind has made us glow. Chaga chunks are drying, apple compote is cooling, and the conker washing liquid is soaking. Our house is full of foraged things that have made their way into our everyday routines. We feel very far removed from Black Friday and all that entails. As this is my blog, (and if I can’t say it here then where can I 😉), I would strongly like to urge you to think twice before buying ‘stuff’ this December. Can you make something instead? Can you give ‘time’ instead? Teach someone an invaluable skill?

There are things we can do with our December month that would benefit not only our loved ones and ourselves, but also the planet we live on.