daily walk for exercise

Most days I get out for my allotted 'walk for exercise' during the Covid-19 lockdown. I feel very fortunate to live in Derbyshire, with its footpaths, fields, woods and hills on the doorstep. Before setting out I consider where the widest paths are with the best chance of remaining 2 meters away from other walkers. 

It's good to get out and breathe fresh air, most people nod, smile or say hello. We need to be responsive and aware of each others bodies, how to negotiate a crossing space, a narrowing of the path. I've become focused on edges as I walk upon fresh growth at the paths fuzzy boundary.

Watching spring bloom I spend much of my walk with eyes pointed at the ground. Spotting plants that sprout from pavement and wall, plants stunted and flattened amongst the grass in the park or growing verdant along pathways. Millefleur is brought to mind as it's still possible to study the variety of young plants, within weeks the hedgerow will be high and plants entwined. 

I'm always delighted by plants that grow in unpromising locations, from pavement crack and stone wall, as well as in the hedgerows - little warriors working with what's available and thriving. This week I photographed, then painted in watercolour Dandelion, Cleavers, Wild garlic, Nettle and Plantain - edible wild plants with medicinal qualities. 

 Dandelion

 Cleavers

 Cleavers

 Wild garlic

 Nettle

Nettle

 Plantain

Dandelion

nettle & potato soup

A couple of weeks ago I made the Friday Soup at Haarlem Artspace where I have a studio. We take turns providing a nourishing lunch for one another in our communal kitchen. I've long held the ambition to cook with the seasons, or at least understand what food the hedgerow can provide throughout the year. So in early March, with the nettles beginning to show their faces I made this soup.

Today, I gathered nettles in an altogether different world. I walked past a couple wearing face masks and felt wary, a heightened need for distance and also to smile, to reassure. It felt good to stride out above the town and quietly sing to the nettles, wild garlic and cleavers as I picked them. The wind cold, the sun warm, an abundance of young plants doing their thing, COVID-19 forgotten for a moment.

Nettle and Potato Soup

Two handfuls of nettle tops, rinsed

One large onion, chopped

Two medium potatoes, peeled and diced

One garlic clove, crushed. I also added wild garlic.

1.5 pints veg stock

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Fry onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add nettles, potato and stock, simmer until potatoes are cooked, blend and season.

Cleaver Tea

Pick a generous handful of cleavers, rinse, place in a teapot, pour over boiling water and allow to infuse for five minutes. A friend who drank this said it reminded her of childhood.

Cleavers

Wild garlic

Nettle tops

  Nettles, cleavers & wild garlic

hedgerow medicine

Just in from a day course in herbal medicine at the Eco Centre, Wirksworth. We made an infused oil from comfrey, and a spring tonic vinegar (mine contains dandelion leaf & root, lovage, nettle, plantain, hawthorn and cleavers). In the morning we drank comfrey tea and in the afternoon, cleavers tea. The afternoon included an identification walk and the photos below show some of the plants we spotted... 

Nature is full on abundant in late spring, fresh, lush, intense. It's as if the plants have a master plan, each taking their space in carpeting the land. Today is another step towards grounding myself in Derbyshire, understanding and building a relationship with this land. 

 Nettle, Cleavers, Rosemary, Dandelion, Hawthorn

 Lovage, Ground Elder, Plantain

 St John's Wort

 Lemon Balm

 Tansy

 Ladys Mantle

 Rosemary

 Hawthorn

 Chickweed

 White dead-nettle

 Plantain

 Borage

 Burdock

Garlic Mustard (Jack-by-the-hedge)

herb walk

 Cleavers

 Hawthorn

 White dead-nettle

 Cow parsley

 Yarrow

Cleavers and stinging nettle