Wild food and Drink Podcast – Beginner’s foraging special
This month’s wild food and drink podcast is aimed squarely at those who are just starting out at foraging. I cover some of the most asked questions. Such as… How easy is it to kill myself when...
View ArticleThe Professor’s tree
Ever smelt a whiff of lemon in a wood? Just a hint, sitting in the air? That’s the chemical terpene limonene that mushrooms use to farm bacteria, but it works on us too. It raises our spirits, makes...
View ArticleElderflower champagne problems from mould, no fizz to exploding bottles
For more recipes including an elderflower champagne recipe plus more problem solving have a look at my book, Booze for free. If you are put off by all the problems you might have making this, then...
View ArticleDoes bacteria work as a plant’s brain?
Some time ago I got interested in plant intelligence, but a question has been troubling me ever since; if plants have memory and show intelligence where do they store their intelligence, after all,...
View ArticleMugwort – the forager’s favourite
Mugwort is officially the foragers favourite wild plant but why? It's anti anxiety, used in brewing and can aid lucid dreaming. Some even thing it can help you predict the future. The Other Andy Hamilton
View ArticleMugwort part two – Depression medication
Mugwort – part two – how to take and did it alter my mind? In an earlier post I spoke about mugwort and how it helped me with anxiety, how I could interact with my dreams and how they helped me...
View ArticleTips for the nervous forager
Every forager I have met has one main warning, Don't pick unless you are 100% sure of what you are picking. What I am describing here in this post is that statement in action. The Other Andy Hamilton
View ArticleUrban foraging for wild food – Part two
I've been foraging in Bristol since around 2006 when I first arrived in the city. Over that time I have searched almost every green corner for wild food and drink ingredients; further educating myself...
View ArticleLady’s Bedstraw
Galium verum Lady’s Bedstraw is a low scrambling plant native to Europe and Asia. It is most at home on chalk downs, grasslands, heathland and coastal areas. Its bright yellow flowers are in abundance...
View ArticleHow to Identify Sloes
the fruit of the blackthorn prunus spinosa for sloe gin etc Before you can make your sloe gin, sloe wine or any sloe based wild drink then really you have to know how to id sloes berries. The below...
View ArticleWild garlic – when to pick & what to do with it
Paths that have been inaccessible to wellyless feet are starting to open up again as the ground freezes over. Yesterday, I took a walk through a small wooded patch of mixed broad leafed trees including...
View ArticleChickweed – falling in love again
Recipes – Chickweed and pea soup – Chickweed sushi I realised recently that Chickweed aka Stellaria media L. was my first plant love. I’d long forgotten the memory of it until a recent interview. I was...
View ArticleLinalool
The smell that might cheer you up, or make you sneeze We humans can detect linalool at rates as low as one part per million and as it is abundant throughout nature – I’m sure you have smelt it....
View ArticleEdible – Japanese Knotweed & nutty knotweed nibbles (recipe)
There is no other plant that separates foragers from gardeners more than Japanese knotweed. This -- the number one most invasive plant in the world The Other Andy Hamilton
View ArticleTapping walnut (and other) trees
I've always advocated drilling to get your sap... this might not be the healthiest for the tree. The Other Andy Hamilton
View ArticleElderflower, Hyldemoer and other folklore
If there ever was a sight to signify the long heady days of summer it would be the Elder in full bloom. The bright clusters of white flowers are a familiar sight across Europe (and beyond). The scent...
View ArticleDrunken botany & soup- er natural – Two events for Summer 2023
Two events for 2023 - wild booze and wild soup The Other Andy Hamilton
View ArticleThe Carrot family – the mafia of the plant world
plant families can contain deadly and tasty plants. The Other Andy Hamilton
View ArticleHomemade buckfast part 2 – posh buckfast
Making your own buckfast is pretty easy – here is a younger version of me illustrating how to make it. I’ve had to age restrict The Other Andy Hamilton
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