Fresh greens

Events of recent years have shown us that the food security we take for granted is far more fragile than I think anyone thought; it's time to start thinking about putting old skool back on the menu. There's a natural larder out there. Take Nettles (Urtica dioica), they're delicious, nutritious and versatile, they're abundant and they're free, and now is the perfect time to start collecting them; cook as greens from fresh or dry as vegetable/seasoning (Nori-ish) for soups Et al. Every little helps.  

Nettle time

 It's nettle time.

Autumn nettles

Where nettles have been regularly cut, young edible tops continue to be produced a crop. I'm surprised the nettle (Urtica dioica) isn't used more, not just as a leaf veg or as a herbal tea, but as a source of fibres, they appear easily grown and usually present in abundance.   

The tree

Set in the burgeoning sea of stinging nettles that edges Creepy Woods stands the tree. It's not the only tree, there are four of them, four Oaks in a line, no doubt the former boundary to a field or paddock, although it's the only tree climbable, and with the capacity for three or four people to lounge.  We'd  meet at the 'tree' when foraging, or just if was a nice day. It was a favourite place to just hang out. I remember it being a great place for sunsets, the land gently rises and you're afforded an expansive canvas for the sun to express himself. Then the fields were far more extensive, a broad green buffer between Christchurch and Highcliffe. Though thirty years on, and several parcels of development later, the trees stand in a shrinking island of post agricultural land, a shadow of their former glory. Still, they, and the woodland, remain a haven for wildlife and a good place to forage wild resources.  It was stinging nettle again for me today. Well, it's free food, delicious and nutritious. I'd postponed my walk today because of rain, when I did set off I was well dressed, and I walked home in my t-shirt; that's when you know springs here proper. 

Nettle

Collected my first Stinging Nettles of the year whilst walking back from the food fortress today. I was near Creepy Woods, it had rained, everything was looking green and nettles popped to mind. Of course they would, spring and Creepy, means it's nettle time. We've been collecting nettles from Creepy Woods for 30 years. Creepy isn't the real name of the woodland, I don't think it has one, but that's how we've always known it, so called after Creepy Mansion, a posh home which for many years stood derelict and dilapidated on the edge of the woods. Nettles are one of our many overlooked free foods, delicious, nutritious and versatile, use them in soup, as a veg or dry them for later use when they take on a Nori quality and flavour.  They are a well used resource in this abode. And, I love that we've collected the same natural resources from the same places year on year, for so many years.

Cockoo!

I heard my first Cockoo (Cuculus canorus) this afternoon whilst walking in Verditch Wood, hark, the herald of Spring does sing. I've never seen a Cockoo, yeah, I hear them every year, but have never been able to spot one, no matter how hard I look. Still, I'm not grumbling, just to hear them is a treat. And, not todays' only treat. Along with the birdsong was the waking wildlife, rabbits hopped into cover as we approached, squirrels scampered up trunks and out on to the most ridiculous of boughs and deer tried to stand motionless as we passed, although they couldn't hold their bottle and were off into the green. Plants are also all getting their thing on. Amongst the bluebells the white fragrant blooms of Ramsons can be spotted, and smelt, I collected some flower tops, along with a bag of nettles to add to tonights' dinner.  Always a bonus to collect some wild food whilst out walking. The trees too are all coming out now. It wont be long before the canopy closes over encapsulating the woodland and the views through the stands are truncated, adding another of mystery and wonder to your walk. I'll never spot a Cockoo then!

Nettles

The nettles (Urtica dioica) are just starting come up. I've not seen enough for a meal yet (not without clear cutting which I don't like to do when plants are just starting out) although it wont be long. It struck me that frequently when I write about plants I'm taken by how many uses so many of them have and how nature provides us so much. Take the humble nettle here, the 'stinging nettle', enemy of the bare legged; an invasive, enemy of the gardener. Yet this common plant can not only provide nutritious food (and can be re-cropped several times in a season), it provides fibres for clothing, string and rope, a wool dye (yellow from the root and green/yellow from the leaves), as well as having medicinal properties. And people call it a 'weed'... silly people.