Sat Sept 7th, forage walk and talk in Clara bog , Co.Offaly, numbers limited, booking essential,details posted when confirmed.
Sun Sept 8th, forage walk and talk in Galway, to confirmed.
Sat Sept 14th, forage walk and talk at Tullamore.
The last few weeks of warmth and sun mean it’s looking good for a healthy Bramble harvest, I’m delighted to have noticed quite a few bumble bees on the brambles and it looks like plenty of berries have set and are beginning to swell, as i write this I am sipping a glass of last year’s Blackberry wine, of which sadly there is very little.
While visiting kenmare last week for the food festival I stayed with Dana and this magnificent Angelica plant was growing in her garden, it’s not too late to preserve some if you like, it makes a great treat a looks marvellous in a fruit cake.
then i took the long road home stopping off in Clare to gather some seaweed from the shore for the garden, it id crispy dry already ready for chopping up and adding to soil to enrich the beds.
On Sunday I spent a very pleasant few hours in the company of Angela, Justin and Emmett, learning about the ancient hill of Uisneach and expanding my understanding of herbs.
That night I received a lovely gift of a new herb book, thanks E&E very appropriate.
Yes they are about, the first few Chanterelles, Oysters and I expect field mushroom are showing and with this latest moisture in the air we should see lots more, Ceps etc.
I eventually, eventually got to inoculate logs with the plug spore of Blue Oysters,(Pleurotus ostreatus) And Shitake (Lentinula edodes)mushrooms, a little late bit fingers crossed they will forgive and flourish.
Isin’t it just fab to have a REAL SUMMER!!!
when Mundy’s song makes perfect sense and everyone is in a good mood and dressed in happy clothes. You might think it’s a lazy time for a forager with most green leaves gone to flower and seed, I am busy. Most days I’m up and out by 6am getting to the raspberries and blackcurrants before the birds or watering the veg.
Later in the day it’s a good time to pick blossom when they have basked in sun, or take a trip to Slieve Blooms in search of Fraughans. Yesterday I splashed through mountain streams with two lovely lasses from Columbia and Patagonia swopping stories of wild foods and folk traditions and watching dippers forage for their dinner in their own special way.
Then we travelled over to other side of the mountain to see what we could see, stopping off to admire the bridge at Mockinew where we came across some pretty oyster mushrooms. Later today I will be joining Justin and Emmett for a walk at the hill of Uisneach where between us we will explore the history, herbs and wild foods of that special place, then it’s home to dry some herbs and start a few wines from garden and wild things.