It’s summer. But it’s May. And everything is out at once. Today I saw hemlock water dropwort in flower alongside cow parsley in flower alongside violets in flower alongside sorrel in flower. Everything is in a hurry it seems that spring and summer are colliding all at once. Worst of all, the elder flower is already here and will be gone if the sun stays bright and warm. Does it not know that I’m busy?! Go, now, get it or it will be too late.
Like most people, I do love the bright days and warmth right now but I also wonder what the actual summer months will bring and will these long bright days mean that the plants will be lost as the months go on. Hopefully we will see cherries and raspberries in abundance but still some balance somewhere. The weather doesn’t make sense to me and I especially don’t like being told to hurry up and get out and pick. Foraging should be joyful and leisurely when the rest of life is a stressful uphill battle. I’ll be taking my time, but if you are happy to rush, head to your local green spot if you still want to grab the best of the following.
1. Wild garlic – the flowers and seeds are out now too. Grab both!
2. Young nettles – or cut your garden patch down to encourage young growth
3. Linden leaves and beech leaves for eating – their window is so small it might already be too late!
4. Hawthorn Flowers
5. Gorse – and make these biscuits
6. Ground elder
7. Garlic Mustard
The Spring season of foraging walks is now finished as the spring plants launch themselves into flower. Thank you to everyone who came along. We had great attendance and weather for most of our events at Cavehill, Belvoir, and just last week at Downhill among others. Latest walks are on here for booking now.
I have a couple of new recipes in the Spring section of the website which make the most of flowers that are out now – especially these exceptionally beautiful dandelions but could be made at any time of year.
Foraging for Palestine is back! Last year we ran lots of these lovely walks and raised a good bit of cash for the PCRF. We would love to see you again if you enjoyed those walks. Tell your mates, bring your mum, drag your uncle etc etc.
In other plant stuff I have been making a bigger effort to catch photos for my i-naturalist catalogue like this lovely greater stitchwort. If you’re there too please let me know – I would love to see your finds. And at home we have been taking it fairly easy. Growing a few vegetables in the garden (against my better judgement) and making new slobber catcher scarves for Ollie – made one for myself too. We are twins, after all. I hope you’re all doing OK out there. Things are tough right now. Take comfort in the plants, friends. See you next time. x
feasting on weeds 
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