Foraging

Today it took my fancy to go foraging.


It's not the best time of year - especially since I was after anything I could turn into a herbal tea ...
I was looking for rosehips, but found that the recent frost had made them look black and shriveled. I should have done this months ago!

Instead I collected some firewood. Not much - just as much as my bag could hold, but enough for one comfortable evening by the wood-burning stove.

Then I found some Yarrow, which makes a nice herbal tea. Again, not the best time to collect it, but I found  handful of fresh new leaves (possibly because of the mild winter we have had so far.

Take a few leaves, pour over boiling water and leave to stand for 5 minutes or so. Add honey to taste.


Enjoy!

The woodpile

The local Council has been busy clearing the undergrowths and and trees and hedges along the roadsides.

A good opportunity for us to forage for left-over pieces of wood, which we can collect to build up our woodpile. After all, the next winter is not too far away! (Haha!!)

Armed with our bicycle trailer, a splitting axe and investing an hour of our time and labour, and the woodpile has grown again. And it has cost us nothing!

It will take the summer to dry out to turn into wood good for burning in the wood-burner.