Recipe

“Till buttered so’ns (sowens) wi fragrant lunt (lunt – steam) Set a’ their gabs a-steerin (steerin – mouths watering) Syne wi’ a social glass o’strunt (strunt-Liquor) They parted off Careerin’ Fu’ blythe that night” – Burns : Halloween Ah what better way than to start a post with Rabbie Burns! Here he is mentioning the rather famous (yet now somewhat forgotten) dish of Sowans ( pronounced Soo-an and written as so’ns in the poem). Sowans were once part of the Scottish traditional diet and not many households would have been without their Sowan-Bowie. More on this in a moment. But first…

Before modern nut and seed oils – expressed by expensive machinery, chemically fractured plant products or petroleum-based products imported into the UK  – our ancestors  used animals fats rendering tallow from cow and deer tallow and pig lard – to create medicines with plants. When our ancestors hunted for food they did so in an respectful way to both spirit and body. Using ceremony and ritual and prayer to appeal to the spirit of the hunt and forest to pass them a sick and weak animal. This “ritual” would also have passed on information to the hunters, through performance and…

There is nothing more ubiquitous as the Blackberry or Bramble. Sméar Dubh or Smearagan in Gaelic, meaning black berry. Dris, druis bramble. The bramble was much valued by the old Highlanders, and where not indigenous was cultivated. The fruit was used for food, the root for dyeing, and an infusion of the leaves was used for medical purposes. Alone, and in combination with the ivy and the rowan, the bramble was placed above the lintel of the byre door to ward away witches and evil spirits. It is spoken of as ‘an druise beannaichte‘–the blessed bramble. It is said that a branch of…

The weather has been hot. Today is no exception. Hot, wet and humid with a wind coming from the south. The breeze brings the heady scent of hawthorn bloom through my open window. The scent of these mingling with the earthy aroma of petrichor. That deep patchouli like smell of the nearby forest in the rain. A base note to it all. It’s a smell unlike any other. It’s a smell of home. The smell of the start of summer. Its time to Preserve the May and make some flower jam. It got me thinking. How I might capture this very moment? This…

Unsurprisingly i’m a huge whisky fan and there is nothing like a Scottish hot toddy! Nothing warms you up and makes you feel better about just about anything really. Reputed to cure the common cold, nerves and anxiety and even sea sickness! The origin of the drinks name might come from British colonialism where the Hindu word tārī,  a drink made from the fermented sap of the various varieties of toddy palm, was made into an alcoholic drink hence the name. Apparently the British liked it so much it made it back to our shores in the U.K. At this point…

Midwinter, a time of the greatest darkness, with still a way till we get to midwinter at the end of January. The sun in Scotland barely rises over the horizon rising late at 9am and setting early at 3pm. The molasses thick Valium orange light of dawn and dusk spread through the streets, over hills and highlight the stark bare tree filled woods. It’s a Gloomy time both outwardly and internally. Its times to look at herbs for resistance. It’s a natural occasion for dormancy and retreat, but in these modern times we may feel the case of “no retreat…