I’ve been in the UK with my family hence no day 19. Here are a few green momentos from the trip…

Above,  a handsome Yew tree.

What things this beautiful tree must have witnessed over the years and what quiet comfort it offers to those who gaze upon it. May it continue to do so for millennia to come.

Next, Stinging nettles with tasty nutty seeds hanging – already. Offerer of protection, strength and vigor.

And lastly,  a small symbol which happily catapults me back in time:

Formed from the red clay of north Bristol; so thick, staining and pure that it can be scooped out of the ground with bare hands, then moulded and baked. Real sticky clay. This brick is from the house where I grew up in Nowhere (a tiny in between place, now part of Stoke Gifford).  I’ve always found it wonderful for houses to be made from the land on which they stand.

My first foraging experiences were around that house and oh how I enjoyed them! Plums, gooseberries, blackberries, lupins, marrows, willows and lilac. Their scent and flavour come back in a flash and yes, lupins are poisonous.  Faithful dogs, hungry goats, rabbits and grazing cows… Lying in sunny fields of moon daisies and poppies, reading poetry, biology and Laurie Lee. Snow drifts, baths by the fire and a cold leaking roof. Buried conch shells, old farm machinery, half dry brooks, skeletons,  deep wells, roman treasure and music…

Oh how fortunate a childhood I had!