Forage Fine Foods

25/05/2026

Dock stems have a sour, tangy, savoury rhubarb flavour and add a delicious crunch to salads. You want to make sure your stem hasn't become fibrous - if its green and juicy youre good to go. Chop them into caper sized pieces and add them to whatever salady things youve got lying around. My lunch just now was a combination of wild, veg patch and bottom of the veg basket wares - a tiny bunch of radishes (leaves and all) celeriac, ground elder, parsley, garlic mustard, honesty, chives, sorrel, 3 cornered leek, calendula, dittander, garlic chives, lovage, cucumber and spring onions with half a forgotten about pomegranate all chopped together with my dock stems, a crumble of feta, lemon, evo and salt and stirred into a ready cooked packet of grains (thank goodness for in this heat)

Eaten with pickled anchovies and sauerkraut, and a glass of lemony water because theres never enough sour ...

23/05/2026

There are spaces still available on this wonderful course with and myself- Fancy coming to learn what you can grow under your washing line?..

23/05/2026

This is Purple Salsify, otherwise known as the Oyster plant because of how its roots taste, Salsify plants are also called as Jack-Go-To-Bed-By-Noon, because the flowers close at midday. (Apart from this rebellious night owl who is refusing to get some shut-eye.)
Salsify is a beautiful edible, it self seeds all over the place - harvest the gut health supporting, inulin fibre rich roots before they flower, but leave some to bloom as they are both stunning and delicious. If you let them go to seed, they'll produce stunning architectural dandelion clock- like seed heads, which most definitely should be allowed to float across your garden to self seed.
Oh and if you've ever wondered why quite alot of plants are called Jack, its cos in ye olden times the devil was called Jack. Quite why it was linked to this little beauty escapes me but perhaps its because of the rouge devil's that refuse to sleep...

21/05/2026

Nettles are on the cusp of being too old to eat (they can irritate your bladder & kidneys when they go to flower) & the heat that this weekend promises to bring means that they may go to flower very soon so you've probably only got a few days left to harvest the last of the spring super greens - and I heartly recommend that you do. Tonight I blended a handful with eggs and added them to sweated potatos, onions and garlic to make a green type of tortilla that my daughter thought looked ridiculous, but I devoured (you can lead a horse to water...) Silly thing, she's missing out on a nutritional powerhouse - nettles are packed full of vitamins, minerals and trace elements, they're great for balancing inflammation, at supporting circulation, they're rich in protein, calcium, and even help reduce histamine responses. Honestly, if theres an aliment nettles cant help with, I've not heard it.

They're also an incredibly important plant for supporting biodiversity - take a look at a patch of nettles right now and you'll probably find curled leaves with eggs in- these could be the eggs of moths or butterflys whose young will feed exclusively on nettles. So if you're going to pick some nettles this weekend, make sure they dont have any curled leaves with eggs in.

What to do with your haul other than making a green omelette? Nettles can swing from sweet drinks, cordials, and cakes, to intensely savoury - fermented, blitzed into pesto, dried into powders for drinks or to add to soups, sweated into spanakopitas, or even rolled to break the stings and eaten in Turkish inspired raw nettles salads.

Thats your bank holiday sorted..

15/05/2026

There's something particularly lovely about a local economy. Today I visited Abergavennys newest shop, and bought a whittled spoon, made by Sally - Aber resident who has been on my foraging courses over the years. My purchase was almost barter economy, just with a beautiful little shop in the middle.
You can keep your fancy jewellery, your designer bags, your fast cars - i have a Sally Spoon.

14/05/2026

A thank you for your support, an update on what Im up to now and a bit of encouragement if you or someone you know is facing cancer treatment right now. (Make a cup of tea, its a long waffle...)

12/05/2026

This time last year I had no hair, was in-between chemotherapy and surgeries after being diagnosed with breast cancer. And for months, even during the depths of winter my garden provided a place of healing. I planted rows of garlic onions and broad beans as soon as I was diagnosed in autumn 2024, and I cant tell you quite how healing it was to see those green shoots emerge over the next months. I'd go out with my bald head and sit with blackcurrant buds and have a chat with them about how we'd both bloom again.

Exactly a year ago, came and interviewed me in my garden about foraging, but of course the topic of healing and cancer came up as well. This week my interview is being shown - I have no idea how I'll look in it and if I'm completely honest I suspect it'll be a bit unsettling seeing myself as I went through the journey of my life. But, I spoke about it because I wanted to share how incredibly medicinal being in my garden had been for my mental health during that time and if this weeks interview helps just one person to see the beauty of life in an unfurling frond, in a water boatman, in a dandelion seed head, then it was worthwhile.

(Oh and I'm m now in possession of a thick head of hair, am back teaching foraging, just with slightly achy knees when I jump up..)

12/05/2026

Thisctime last year I had no hair, was in-between chemotherapy and surgeries after being diagnosed with breast cancer. And for months, even during the depths of winter my garden provided a place of healing. I planted rows of garlic onions and broad beans as soon as I was diagnosed in autumn 2024, and I cant tell you quite how healing it was to see those green shoots emerge over the next months. I'd go out with my bald head and sit with blackcurrant buds and have a chat with them about how we'd both bloom again.

Exactly a year ago, came and interviewed me in my garden about foraging, but of course the topic of healing and cancer came up as well. This week my interview is being shown - I have no idea how I'll look in it and if I'm completely honest I suspect it'll be a bit unsettling seeing myself as I went through the journey of my life. But, I spoke about it because I wanted to share how incredibly medicinal being in my garden had been for my mental health during that time and if this weeks interview helps just one person to see the beauty of life in an unfurling frond, in a water boatman, in a dandelion seed head, then it was worthwhile.

(Oh and I'm m now in possession of a thick head of hair, am back teaching foraging, just with slightly achy knees when I jump up..)

09/05/2026

Todays foragers ate curries made with grains, plants, meats and wild herbs from the farm followed by a cheesecake made with biscuits made with flour made with grains grown by Simon. Topped with curd cheese made by husband wife Anita, made from milk from their 18 year old sons Guernsey cow.
It was quite a special thing.

04/05/2026