A budget of local, home grown and wild produce...
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The coconut scented flowers of Gorse are ideal for making a wonderful summer cordial and tasty wine, as well as sprinkling in salads and colouring pace eggs. Gorse ( Ulex europaeus ) can be found growing along motorway embankments, colonising scrub and hillside and is a common shrub in many UK hedgerows. Gorse is also [...]
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Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) can be found in early spring, growing in moist, partly shaded areas of woodland, often near bluebells. Broad green leaves which look similar to those of Lily of the Valley, start showing from around late February and will flower towards April or May. The white flowers of wild garlic look very [...]
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Rose hips are the seed pods of roses, both wild and cultivated. Once the flower petals fall, the hard green hips will swell until they start to ripen in October and November, turning a bright red or orange, depending on the variety. The word “Hip” originally comes from the Middle English “hepe”. Among rose growers [...]
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The Bilberry (Vacinnium Myrtillus) is a small shrubby perennial that grows in damper, acidic areas of meadows and woodland. Edible black/blue fruits are produced in mid to late summer, singly or in pairs. Known by many other names inclding: Bleeberry, blaeberry, whortleberry, whinberry (or winberry), wimberry, myrtle blueberry, fraughan, and other regional variations. They were called [...]
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Whilst picking Brambles yesterday, I came across something I have not seen for many years….Wild Burnet. I used to pick these en masse for my father to make wine and here it was growing in the grassland near the hedgerow. The Wild Burnet or Sanguisorba Officinalis grows to around 1m tall in grassland and on [...]
