Forage!
Infuse sticky willy in cold water to get a cooling brew that tastes like cucumber
Happy Friday!
And greetings from the top of a hill as the sun thinks about doing one.
For those of you new around these parts, welcome 👋
My name is David and I’m a writer, outdoor instructor and cyclist-at-large with Thighs of Steel. In this newsletter, I write stories that help you and me understand the world (and ourselves) a little better.
Welcome to edition 396.
Forage!
I spent this afternoon foraging around Greenbanks cemetery with Maria from Healing Weeds. Two and a half hours and £34 abundantly well spent.
During our slow perambulation (we managed to get about a fifth of the way around the perimeter of the park), Maria introduced us to the nutritional and medicinal properties of no fewer than twenty different plants (only one of which could kill you) and together we brewed an ‘Everything Tea’, so-called because it was a blend of a little of everything we’d found. (It tasted like green.)
Things I Learned Today
Infuse sticky willy in cold water to get a cooling brew that tastes like cucumber.
The ‘tails’ of ribwort plantain taste unbelievably like mushrooms, good for sprinkling over salads or into stews. The taste comes from their intimate connection with the mycelial networks underground. (You can also chew the leaves into a topical gel that’s a good anti-histamine for nettle stings — dock leaves are a myth.)
Grasp the nettle (leaf) for an anti-inflammatory boost full of vitamins and minerals that’s good defence against hay fever. (If they’ve already gone to seed, ignore the leaves and take the seed pods instead.)
Mares tails, which I barely knew existed two hours ago, are edible! Strip off the woody sheath for a sweetish, watery snack that’s a bit like asparagus. (Mares tails are a truly ancient plant that evolved before pollinators were a thing: their heads puff out spores like the fruiting bodies of fungi.)
Finally, and most addictively, oh my days, crushed cedar leaves smell delicious. Some clear your sinuses, some smell like Lilt.
Go Forth and Forage!
Today was a natural lesson in infinity.
I surprised myself with what I already knew (‘That looks… chivesy?’), but to what I knew by sight, Maria could, in one breath, add a wealth of botanical detail.
At the same time, I was struck by how easily Maria acknowledged the limits of her own knowledge and experience. She has been studying ‘healing weeds’ for six years, yet gives off the energy that ahead of her is a lifetime of learning, absorbing lessons from plant teachers who (to use jargon familiar to us digital natives) will never run out of Content.
‘Share this knowledge,’ Maria says, as we drink up our green-tasting Everything Tea. ‘Please share what you’ve learned today. People desperately need this. We need plants.’
So, with that done, go forth and forage!
(And check out Maria’s fantastic courses and walks on Healing Weeds.)
Huge thanks to all the paying subscribers who helped make this story possible. You know who you are. I’m pouring out a tea in your honour. Thank you. 💚
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Big love,
dc: