Wildcrafting & Foraging

February, Faoilleach,  the wolf ravage. Imbolc and La Fheill Bride. The month of two halves. The beginning, a full on winter experience. By the end becoming a little easier going with clear signs of summer on its way. The weather though has been all over the place. The coldest it has been for some time, then usually sunny and warm, we will see what this year brings. Regardless, the snow has fallen. Coating the countryside on Valentines day, old plough break day, the date of old Candlemas, thick and heavy. The sky is a scene from an apocalypse movie. Dark grey rising …

As I get deeper into the woods I hear the cry of a Common Buzzard above me, I think it’s telling me I’m on its turf as it circles me above the trees. I see great tits and chaffinches darting between the evergreens and I rest for a bit in a pine needle covered clearing. I can see the white resin of the Scots pine running down a few of the trunks and have a scratch at it, releasing that fresh pine scent as it sticks to my fingers