Foraging is a great way to slow down, explore the outdoors, and make the most of what nature has to offer—right on your doorstep. Across the UK, there’s something to find in every season, whether it’s the zingy green shoots of spring, juicy summer berries, or earthy autumn mushrooms. This…
Category: Plants
This Fermented Borscht soup is built around traditional Polish kvass, a ferment made with rye bread, beetroot and water. Winter is a great time to be fermenting, as it brings new energy to stored veg at a time of year when fresh food is scarce. It is based on a…
The Fermented Sloe Olives are inspired by the hedgerows framing the stunning views across the fields and pine forest near my house in Dorset, I made these sloe olives with a simple aim in mind: to preserve this abundant wild, plummy fruit. I wanted to create something a little…
This Fermented Wild Garlic Pesto is a fantastic example of lacto-fermentation being used to create something with bags on flavour. It’s also a brilliant way to use up stacks of seasonal greens. One of the endless joys of this recipe is that it’s completely plant-based. The lactic acid produced during…
My heart still skips a beat when I think about the magical world of medicinal plants growing wild around us. Just imagine – countless generations before us have tapped into this natural pharmacy, gathering remedies from trees and meadows for thousands of years! Let me share something wonderful with you…
Evening Primrose / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Edible The Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) is a striking wildflower that graces meadows, roadsides, and coastal areas across the UK with its bright yellow, fragrant blooms. True to its name, its flowers open in the evening, attracting night-flying pollinators like moths. Beyond…
The Daisy family, scientifically known as Asteraceae, is the largest family of flowering plants in the world having over 32,000 species! It comprises mostly herbaceous plants especially in the UK, and makes up a huge portion of our most showy and valued flowers. Asteraceae is so large it’s incredibly varied,…
Dewberry/ Spring / Summer / Autumn / Edible The Dewberry is an interesting perennial relative of Blackberries and Raspberries. Dewberry is common across the Northern Europe and Eurasia. Similar species are found in North America although they typically prefer coastal locations. Common Names Dewberry Botanical Name Rubus caesius   Scientific Classification…
Dog Violet /Spring / Summer / Edible The Dog Violet (Viola riviniana) is a small but beautiful wildflower that adds a splash of purple to hedgerows, woodlands, and grasslands across the UK. Unlike its scented relative, the Sweet Violet, this delicate bloom lacks fragrance, but it more than makes…
Columbine / Spring / Summer / Edible Columbine is a common and distinctive garden plant, and is often seen escaping from gardens and springing up in long grass and verges nearby. Its tall, elegantly curved stems grow up to a metre tall, supporting multi-coloured flowers and later rattling seed pods.…