Wild, free and my favourite late summer hedgerow fruit, it’s blackberry time. We have been busily gathering bowl after bowl over the past few days. I love them for their versatility, straight-off-the-bush-and-into-the-mouth ability, the way they feel between your fingers when you reach that middle of the patch one…! Yay and the flavour varies depending on where they were growing. The three prickly sites we have are yielding hundreds of the beauties this season. Our blackberry bushes also have nettles and bindweed throughout so a “sift and sting” occurs from time to time! It’s definitely worth it when we bring in an enormous haul. I’ve managed to make places to safely stand in shorts and wellies without being zapped. I have to keep asking the children not to eat too many at once but when I turn around, their mouths are full and they have rubbed purple juice all over their T-shirts. You can’t blame them, it’s like taking a mouthful of the most delicious jam when you pop several in. Blackberries are good for you too. They are high in vitamin C, fibre and many other key vitamins and minerals. There are many things I could rave about eating but a sun-warmed, juicy, fragrant blackberry is mighty fine! The chickens have been enjoying a few berries with us too, it’s just the cats who are missing out. I have made a useful blackberry compote for autumn and winter recipes and have frozen a dozen containers of whole fruits. Judging by the number of red and green berries on the bushes, we might have to open a blackberry stand in the lane to share the wealth. It is a great year for them and these hot August days are ripening them fast. I’m hoping birds, mice and other creatures are loving them too. The berries are literally dropping from the bushes for all to enjoy! The great blackberry harvest this year ties in beautifully with the age-old beginning of Lammas, late summer harvest. Traditionally, this is when the first grain is harvested, bread is baked and shared, and seeds are stored for next years planting. It is a time of great abundance and preparation for the cold winter months ahead. “…I too will set aside that which I can use later.” Words from a Lammas ritual that have been running through my head lately. I am also mindful of the busy bees that are continuing to visit the blackberry flowers, doing their part to help make these scrumptious berries. Thanks guys! The blackberries we are saving will be a wonderful health tonic when the weather turns cooler. Excellent timing, naturally.
Author: A Wilder Life
The scent of evening
Hanging in the sky bright and clear is the first quarter moon as we set out on an evening walk. The sun has just gone to bed and the horizon glows pink and orange fading into blue as I gaze upwards and close my eyes. My head back, I drink in the sweet air of the gloaming. This place fills me as I stretch to the sky and stand with strong roots reaching down into the earth. Soon it will be dark so we set off down the track. Every few steps we encounter a new night smell. It has been raining during the day but it is ending with much clearer skies. The freshness of country walks when everything has been washed clean is utterly wonderful. Large droplets that have gathered on lady’s mantle leaves glow in the fading light. The children call them fairy drops which I think is an accurate description! We walk along a smaller path and notice that special mushroom smell, that delicious smell of decaying wet leaves. Dampness changes into drier ground as we leave the patch of woods and smell field grasses and horses grazing. These walks are all about the senses as I’m often carrying a pine cone, stick, leaf or flower one of the children has asked me to hold for them. We walk along and enter a path that in spring is known as ‘the garlic path’ because both sides of it are lined thickly with wild garlic in full bloom. Tonight, the laurel is sending out its sweet smell along the narrow path as the garlic disappeared many weeks ago. There are several buddleia bushes as we round the corner for home and we stop to enjoy them as if we are the butterflies attracted to the sweet purple flower spikes. It is no wonder that it’s known as the ‘butterfly bush’ but at this hour we have it all to ourselves. We have smelled the soil as we walked along, green leaves, mold, a freshly cut woodpile with that divine lumber mill smell, night scented flowers and cool clean air. Pure wild magic. And so home to bed now after a perfect end to the day, to sleep deeply under a blanket of stars.
The Turning Wheel
With so much change taking place lately I have scarcely had the time to write. Late summer has arrived here at the homestead with the first signs that the year is waning. It has been a month since the summer solstice and the position of the setting sun has shifted back over to beyond the distant bluff. I have never been so aware of this occurrence before. The official harvest season begins soon even though we have all been enjoying many delicious treats from our gardens already as it is late July. The stars of the Autumn harvest for us this year are gradually coming into flower. Behold, the humble but enchanting pumpkin flowers! They are sensational seen with bright orange calendula and nasturtium flowers dotted all around the patch. Tall sunflowers that are in bud stand like guards behind the scene with sweet corn preparing to fruit (or veg!). Our pyramidal cauliflower rows look leafy and strong next to the broad beans that have plenty more to give well into August. The cultivated edibles are largely looking after themselves with just the occasional light thinning around them when they look a little drowned by the wilds. I’m gently controlling the overgrowth in there and I feel I have reached a happy balance. I see that the resident insect life is pleased with very little disturbance from me or the children. The green and black flies never managed to form any damaging strongholds but I do see that they are crazy about the wild yarrow. That is fine with me because I harvest the young regrowth of yarrow for eating and leave the long flowering tips for the insects anyway. Because there is so much of it growing here and there, lining the path to the chicken house, growing amongst flowering apple mint, there is enough to make everyone happy. Is it possible to have a mutually satisfying relationship with aphids? That could be a revelation. Now, the yarrow has been growing continuously over the summer, but the white dead nettle died back a few weeks ago. I am learning that quite a few wild plants have a second growing season. The white dead nettle was the one I may have mentioned before that was harbouring lots of exciting bug life early in the season. The children particularly loved watching the stinkbug activity but also enjoyed the huge variety of bees that were visiting it. It is returning and with flowers too. We will be on the look out for creatures that may appear on them in the coming days. Our wild salads have contained young leaves from plantain, dandelions, mustard, nasturtiums, cress and yarrow this week. Only the nasturtiums have been grown by me, no other input was required. That is simply wonderful! There will be more radishes soon and I need to peek at the carrots tomorrow to see if there are a couple of orange tops showing. It is a time of abundance and with that comes mindfulness of preserving some of the bounty for later in the year. So far, I have been drying chamomile, calendula, lavender and purple dead nettle for later use but have not really had an excess of vegetables or fruit yet. There is still plenty of time to bottle some sunshine as I see we have lovely apples, pears, blackberries and hedgerow berries to collect later. The evenings and the air in general is cool but there is blazing warm sun when it does come out. A feeling of change has swept over this land and it is welcomed with quiet reverence and anticipation for the new things that will come. Sadly, our hen numbers have dwindled down by another loss but we are not phased. I found her where she fell from her roost and hoped she went in her sleep during the night. I kept her above ground until the children woke that morning and let them smooth her grey feathers and thank her before placing her in the earth. They were happy that I allowed them to help me and picked flowers to place on her. She is in a lovely spot now where they know she is near and have not been sad at all. With only four hens left, we will soon want to get a few more. The wheel of the year is turning and our pumpkins are growing.
Nature as usual
I looked out of the kitchen windows and saw a wonderful sight. Two young Chaffinches clinging to the rusty orange fading Garlic Mustard plants that are no more than 6 feet from where I stood. It had been raining for several days so nature came to me without the need for my rain gear. They were swaying back and forth feeding on the long seed pods. I watched them fly over to the small pear tree, hop to the ground for a peck about and then make a quick departure. I was so pleased that I hadn’t had a desire to cut down the tired looking plants already. It makes me want to try the seeds myself. I have had the pleasure of noticing a few homestead successes over the past couple of days, despite quite a wet week. When visiting the chickens, I figured it might be time to have a look at the wild parsnips again to check for red soldier beetles. Goodness me, the three clumps now exceed my height and were absolutely teeming with beetle activity. Red critters galore! Once my eyes tuned into them, I started seeing them all over. I noticed a couple in the vegetable garden as well which is a great sign. What I don’t know, however, is if their proliferation is definitely down to the wild parsnips being allowed to stay or if it’s something else. Whatever the reason, I’m glad to see them and do not have much green or black fly to worry about. On that note, I don’t know if it’s just luck or what but I have seen several seven spot ladybirds and no harlequins. I had so many harlequin larvae on the nettles recently I thought they would easily dominate over any others. This delightful report may change if there is some sort of mass hatching of a new battalion of harlequins, of course. Another lovely discovery came in the form of tiny clusters and single perfectly placed butterfly eggs on my salad leaves. There were three different egg colours and types on the leaves and another light green cluster on the underside of a nearby marigold leaf. I called for the children to come share my excitement and they were thrilled. Just this week we drew and talked about the life cycle of butterflies and they were fascinated. A few days before, they had found a huge mullein moth caterpillar on a buddleia bush that sparked their interest. They also loved and were slightly scared of the peacock butterfly caterpillars we had on the nettles. To find butterfly eggs was the icing on the cake. Needless to say, we won’t be eating the salad until we can share it with the caterpillars. This afternoon saw the end of the latest rainy spell and we were treated to a blazing sunset to end the day. I plan to harvest more chamomile flowers in the morning, once the dew has lifted from this wild land. A long awaited sunny day is likely to reveal a few more unexpected pleasures. Our eyes will be open.
Morning Light
The light was so beautiful this morning when I went out to open the chicken house, it was impossible to go back to bed. I always creep quietly back upstairs to enjoy another hour or two but today I felt like I would be missing something. The recent winds seem to have cleared the air again and I could breathe deeply. I stopped to enjoy a brilliant beam that was reaching a new part of the usually dark grey kitchen floor, highlighting its glorious unevenness. One of the cats came to join me at the outdoor table as I sat with my morning tea. He had such a wise and knowing look about him as if to welcome me to his world. An early morning place I don’t see since I’m an avid night owl. The moon had reached its peak fullness only three hours before. I’m sure that event had added some natural magic into the mix. My big furry boy rolled around in the sun at my feet as I took it all in. Later, we’ll go out to the top meadow with the children to identify grasses. I have a wonderful identification book that I bought a long time ago with the smallest of coins. It was printed in the 1970’s when I guess there was more of a demand for enjoying such detailed pursuits outdoors. One of my favourite nature writers began his career in the early 70’s, inspiring the nation and the world with his peaceful enthusiasm for the subject. Richard Mabey brought knowledge and personal observations in his book Flora Britannica, Book of Wild Herbs to the people and continues to be forever relevant in my life. You may know him from Food for Free, first published in 1972 with its wonderfully illustrated cover. Whenever I see his name associated with a book or old television program, I’m all over it. I feel a need in humanity at the moment for a return to nature in any way that can happen, a long overdue reconnection. My Mabey dreaming came to a pause when my children came out to find me basking all alone. They ran out in bare feet with freshly awakened faces bringing me back to my morning duties. I stood up, gave myself a good stretch, rejuvenated and ready for anything.
Chamomile among the beans
One of the oldest and most documented medicinal plants in the world is growing like wildfire here and has made a home among the broad beans. It is probably in your arsenal of herbal teas right now. Chamomile has been used for centuries as a healing medicine with a vast array of uses. I plan to dry the flowers by the bucket load and share them with friends. They are also thriving in almost overwhelming quantity in the chicken enclosure. This could help to explain why my chickadees are so relaxed most of the time! It is positively knee-deep in there with trails through it stamped out by the chickens. Soon the chamomile will be ready to harvest, preferably when the moon is ascending and on a flower day. Then the goodness will all be concentrated in the cheerful little flower heads for best results. It is an enchanting sight to see the way they are intermingling with the beans. I enjoyed kneeling before them today as I tackled a few new nettle shoots that keep catching me out. I picked my first two broad bean pods that ended up in a raw pea, broad bean, spring onion salad with soy sauce, Japanese vinegar and honey dressing. Lovely combinations of plants are happening all around as we enter the second part of the summer. There is more Fat Hen growing through the peas, a second flowering of purple dead nettle in the cauliflower patch and countless wildflowers springing up all over. I found a large form of cress with a superb peppery bite among the cauliflower also, and yarrow is beginning to flower along the path. I filled my enormous red colander with green goodies to use for supper earlier. The children took pleasure in using scissors to harvest handfuls of tender pea pods of which several didn’t make it into the container. What joy for them to open up the pods that had fattened to find sweet delicious peas inside. It is a fun way to get them to enjoy green vegetables and hopefully create strong memories for their future lives in food. They also particularly liked the smell of the broad bean pods today. My son said they smell like ‘green’. Indeed they do. I think all colours should have an associated smell. We carried the harvest to the kitchen in time for a dark cloud to hide the sun just as we were satisfied with our pickings. Thanks to an amazing new friend, I knew exactly what to do with the variety of green leaves. I had mostly cauliflower shoots after giving the rows another thinning, some Fat Hen, plantain and yarrow. It had to be Okonomiyaki, a simple but completely delicious Japanese savoury pancake we now enjoy regularly. These beauties are packed full to bursting with shredded cabbage, spring onions and ginger normally, but being me I had to try it with some homegrown and wild greens. I make it gluten free very successfully with trusted flour, cornflour, a small amount of water, three eggs, a nori sprinkle, and rice bran oil I have to hand. The children quite like to have just the pancakes without any ‘green bits’ so a second batch is always needed. I top our grown-up ones with squeezy mayo, a special Okonomiyaki brown sauce from my friend and freshly grated ginger. My partner can’t have the special sauce so I give him extra rice vinegar and gluten free soy sauce to splash on his. Satisfaction guaranteed! It is filling and a great way to pack a lot of nutritious veg into your diet when it’s soaked in Umami flavour. Some of you may be thinking that I cook a lot of asian inspired food and you would be right, but there is so much to love about all of the exciting spices and endless combinations of sweet, salty, sour and spicy flavours to explore. In addition to this love, I also go to my Yotam Ottolenghi book, ‘Plenty’ regularly for inspiration. He is an Israeli-English chef and food writer if you haven’t already heard of him. His food is transcendent and for me, he has the ability to elevate the most humble ingredient with exotic flair. One to look for if you like to use food to cure yourself of any form of malaise like I do. When our carrots and sweetcorn are ready to harvest I might find that very minimal cooking will suit them best. I tasted my first carrot today and the intense flavour and crunch spoke for itself. It was only about the length of a finger but was calling my name when I saw its orange top showing above the earth. I shared it of course! I feel a mass chamomile flower harvest will come any day now so I will need to prepare a drying line or two to hang them upside down from. I’m hoping the house will slowly start to look more and more like a medieval apothecary as the summer goes on. I have a jar of purple dead nettle tops infusing in organic olive oil from mid April I dried for making into salve and calendula flower heads on tea towels next to a stovepipe drying beautifully as well. I haven’t bought chamomile tea for a long time so I am looking forward to a fresh pot of wild homestead medicine. Watching the chamomile grow is another confirmation to me that by lovingly managing our land, nature shares its bounty with us so that we may thrive along with all of the other creatures that depend on it. I’ll drink to that.
Warm winds
Summer wind is gently blowing across the homestead tonight. I am enjoying listening to it move through the trees as I write. It’s a soft rustling sound that is not unlike the ebb and flow of the waves on a beach. The windows are open just enough to feel the movement of the air. When I am ready to sleep, it will soothe me. I’m sure everything outside is enjoying the relief from such a hot day. I am certainly pleased to have left some tall greenery in the chicken enclosure for them to lie under. It was extremely hot today despite the winds efforts to peg back the temperature. Our main barn felt like an oven so the double doors were opened wide while my partner and his father worked on building us a new log store. There has been a wonderful sense of occasion here over the last few days as it was the solstice and then my birthday. The entire weekend was dedicated to either preparing for or celebrating the solstice in particular. I never expect or require any fuss over my birthday. I did enjoy a very easy going day with lots of sweet wishes from friends and family so it was lovely. Last Friday was Midsummer’s Eve which was the night when people would stay up all night revelling and then watch the sunrise on the longest day. My partner managed to see it this year. He relayed to me the way the bright orange orb suddenly rose up from behind the distant hills to the east. I didn’t manage to be awake for it this year but I will try next time. The weather was a little changeable but it wasn’t expected to rain in the evening when we were going to have a fire and a small outdoor celebration. The children and I gathered a few oak leaves and decorated the table with symbolic meaning to mark the midway point in the year that was to be around a quarter to ten. I had been keeping a special beeswax candle in the shape of an old ‘skep’ or wicker beehive I wanted to burn to pay homage to our hardworking bees. We ate, enjoyed live music provided by talented company, inhaled a lot of oak smoke, drank mead. It was a splendid night and made all the more magical by a sudden mysterious wind that whirled through our circle during a particularly atmospheric song. Sparks flew out of the fire causing us to take notice of its presence, adding power to the moment. A few minutes later, it started raining lightly but we stayed out until it began to pour. We retreated into the house, carrying arm loads of wet tableware and Moroccan carrot salad. These warm summer winds are speaking to us, carrying messages, and I am listening.
A Thundering Typhoon
More than one actually. Stormy skies have prevailed this week with thunder, lightning, whipping winds and downpours of rain. Today it merely rained steadily all day but the storm we had a couple of days ago made me feel like I was out at sea. We could hear it coming and watched as dark storm clouds flashed and rumbled over nearby hills. Birds fell silent and I knew I should have grabbed the clean sheets from the line but decided to wait it out. Moments later, the rain arrived and came down with such force that it bounced several inches off the ground which created a splashing blur of any hard surfaces. I worried for the vegetable garden and hoped that the birch twigs would hold up the pea and broad bean plants. The wind gusts lashed the rain against the windows thus adding to the boat feeling. Would the tomato plants survive this? I kept telling my daughter about how much I love storms as we watched and listened from the safety of the house. It was exciting and dramatic. You know it’s summer when you get a storm like that. I expected to lose electricity but luckily no trees came down on power lines this time. I wondered what the chickens were feeling as they sheltered inside their coop with a metal roof! The storm left as quickly as it had arrived and had splashed mud onto the sheets so that is definitely a lesson learned. When the birds stop singing, bring in your sheets. I lost a couple of nasturtium plants that were planted in hanging pallets on the side of the big barn but nothing else. All of the vegetable plants were intact including the flowers. I was sure they would have been pressure washed from their stems. I was going to leave the two nasturtiums where they were on the ground, but decided to bring them in to enjoy in the kitchen window. The next day, a bright orange flower appeared on one of them so I was glad that we didn’t eat them immediately. The wind had ripped the whole plants from their stalks so I didn’t see any hope for their recovery. It was lovely to at least be able to enjoy a single flower while it lasted. The green leaves were beginning to fade by today, but on closer inspection, there were tiny new leaves growing and ROOTS coming from the base of the stalk. This could easily be seen through the glass water jug they were in. I was completely surprised to discover this and had no idea that nasturtiums can be grown from cuttings. I have rooted cuttings before and am currently doing it with Ivy and a favourite house plant of mine but I was so pleased that the nasturtiums could be saved and replanted. I planted them in my special homemade mix of soil and they are sheltering in the back porch window until they can be put back on the blue pallet shelf we made. I smile every time I see them there. There is even a new flower bud on the other one so I think they’re going to make it. A wonder of a plant that is so simple in form with such eagerness for life. Not even a storm can dampen their enthusiasm.
Nettle Islands
They sting me through my gloves almost daily but they are welcomed. In the top meadow, we have allowed rafts of nettles to thrive in abundance for nature to show us what they can do. It is still easily possible to access every area of the land we want to and navigate around the nettles via a series of paths we manage. I deliberately wanted a patch of nettles next to the vegetable garden to attract bees and their friends but didn’t know what kind of insects would appear there. To our amazement, the patch that runs along one side of the chicken’s enclosure is now home to hundreds of Peacock Butterfly caterpillars. The children and I discovered them yesterday and also saw Harlequin Ladybird larvae there too. Both looked ready for battle with menacing spikes all over and in great numbers. Much like their host plants! I admit I am excited about the butterflies and not so much about the non-native ladybirds. I understand they are out-competing our native species. Today I noticed the Dunnock who have been brooding chicks in the neighbouring bush were flying over to help themselves to a few. I think they were going for the caterpillars, unfortunately. Something very exciting appeared when I turned over a seed tray the wind had blown over in the vegetable garden yesterday. A Slow worm, a coppery coloured shiny creature was hiding under there. A very welcomed guest and a sign of healthy land. This was a wonderful discovery and I was so pleased to see that nature has provided a slug and snail predator for the garden. They are actually lizards but when you see one they look very snake like. It has been humid lately which is probably what brought it out. I found it next to the nettle patch I mentioned earlier so maybe it likes them too. I have also left islands of long grasses and large areas of meadow with so many wonderful plants for beasties of all shapes and sizes to enjoy. There are even wild parsnip plants in there, only three so they aren’t harming anyone. When I identified them I thought it best to let them be due to their ability to cause phytophotodermatitis (what a word!). This plant, “Pastinaca Sativa”, can cause severe burns if you break it, come in contact with the sap and happen to be standing in bright sunlight. Even brushing against it is not advisable. On a happier note, the yellow flowers are attracting insects now and I’m hoping to see red soldier beetles taking up residence on them soon. They’re another ally in the garden but not for slugs, snails and aphids! Gardening with nature is allowing us to get an insight into the intricacy of the delicate balance that exists out there. The micro level sustains the macro. Wildlife needs the nettles and wild parsnip to survive and we need wildlife to help provide us with food as well. By avoiding too much unnecessary chopping and managing the land organically, we can hopefully encourage these silent helpers to flourish. My anticipation is growing for the next little peek into this beautiful web of life. Hopefully without any encounters with any more six-foot-tall, skin melting plants. The nettle islands can stay!
Free Greens
The time has come to further explore the joy of allowing a plant to grow where it is not traditionally wanted (ahem…weeds) and harvesting it for eating. Today I was out admiring the vegetable garden and noticed the extraordinary amount of growth such plants have achieved in the past few days. It has been “growing weather” lately with the right mix of showers and warm sun. I haven’t even needed to water the patch for a while so roots have been reaching down and growth pushing upwards almost audibly. It’s time to get eating and thinking of clever ways to introduce these lovelies to our plates. I harvested several Fat Hen and Good King Henry plants in their entirety as they were starting to overshadow some of the cultivated veggies like the tomatoes and carrots. These are easily identified in your wild flower books or online. The “Chenopodiums” are in the Goosefoot family, aptly named due to the shape of the leaves which resemble goose feet. Before spinach was introduced to the UK, Fat Hen was commonly used as a green to go with meats. It’s also closely related to Quinoa. I have known about it but have never cooked with it. Likewise with Good King Henry. I decided to use them as I would use Spinach in one of our favourite Indian recipes. It could have gone one of two ways but I had a good feeling about it. When I need inspiration or don’t know what to do, I reach for my copy of Laxmi Khurana’s book “An Indian Housewife’s Recipe Book”. If I haven’t shared my love for this book with you before, now is the time. It is the best and most used cookbook in our kitchen by me. My partner is just a naturally gifted cook and can put the most splendidly delicious food together as everyone who knows him can attest. I’m a recipe kind of gal. I often make the fresh Spinach curry on page 161 as it is beautifully simple, delicious and the spices are divine. The children were outside playing where I could hear them so I set to work. I washed the whole plants and plucked off the leaves because the stems felt a little tough. If you make this yourself, I’ll say about 3 cloves of fresh garlic works better in my opinion. I don’t ever seem to have garlic powder in. When I’d made some rice and the gently simmering pan of dark green curry was ready, I rushed a bowl up to my partner who is currently working from home. He gets experimented on regularly and is cautious because of some past mushroom incidents where once I was certain about some horse mushrooms that turned out to be yellow stainers! They didn’t make it into the pot so it was a lucky escape. The fresh Fat Hen and Good King Henry curry was a huge success I’m pleased to say. I even got an applause. I wish I could come up with a better name for it because it was BETTER than the Spinach version. “Fat King Henry curry” sounds funny and unappetizing. Chenopodium curry maybe. Suggestions are welcomed. It was glorious and healthy with so many vital vitamins, iron, fibre, calcium, protein and more. Humble little plants that grow so near and yet are so easily tossed on the compost heap. The growing weather is supposed to continue for a few days before another very warm spell. For tonight, I will dream of the next magical dish of wild greens I can share with you here. Wild, happy and free.
This Wild Homestead 