A spring foraging ride

 The sun was shining, and birds were singing everywhere. It was warm and nice, and I felt that urge to get out. Only but recently I had rebuilt the drivetrain of my bike and repaired the brakes that alas where so neglected over the winter they made some funny noises but did not quite... well... brake?;-)

Anyway, after all this and some new handlebar grips it felt like a fresh bike and it is funny how these simple things can affect the fun one has riding so much. So, out with a bike it was, packing the old textile grocery bags, a hand drill, a plastic coke bottle and a tapping system.

Out into the hills pedalling, and even hammering, it was great to see my bike work properly, but I was also astonished to feel that my body, which has made some sissies recently, also worked like it should. It felt as if years fell off my back! I was hooting and hollering and celebrating a great, great ride along technical singletrack.

 No reason one could not have both, I also collected some lesser celandine (ranunculus ficaria, in German: Scharbockskraut) as spice, taking care to only collect the ones not yet blossoming.

 Just around the corner there was a right abundance of wild garlic (allium ursinum, in German: Bärlauch), and I got some for wild garlic oil, for salad, as spice and to put on a cheese sandwich fresh.

 On the trail went, gnarled and rooted it wound through the ancient forest. Up the hill across rocky sections, and when the trail tilted down, I simply had to scream out my joy into the mild and warm driving wind. The echoes in my mind were like the song of a buzzard´s cry. And thus I came to the birchtree grove. Out came the flask of tea, a blanket to sit on, and the hand drill and tapping system.

 So violently the sap rises at the moment that I got 0,7l of birch sap in half an hour! Please remember to always plug the tree after tapping!

 I just sat there and smelled the roses while the birch sap tap system drip-dripped the time away.

A steely blue sky above bore the songs of birds, and a buzzard was circling above.

Then I got a drink of fresh birch sap to go with my cuppa tea. I always love the first cup of sap in spring. It feels like a fountain of youth. It feels like you swallow spring´s essence itself, so refreshing after a long and cold winter that I felt like a bone - shiver this time.

Beech sprouts are delicious with their nutty flavour. I got them for salad...

...to go with wild garlic, jack-by-the hedge,

...and blanched nettle leaves.

Clover was in blossom. I like the fresh flavour, too.

...and the woods were enchanted by so many flowers... beautiful!

As the sun was sinking, I made for my trail home.

Those are maple leaves. You can use them to mend insect stings or ease blister pain. The sap makes for a delicious syrup. The young sprouting leaves can be eaten as salad.

Ground elder - good for tea, as spice or salad!

Violets (viola, in German: Veilchen) make for a delicious flower flavour in herbal syrup.

And, last but not least, sweet woodruff. (Galium odoratum, in German: Waldmeister). When used sparsely, you can make a delicious syrup or wine from it. But keep in mind woodruff is rich with cumarine inhibiting blood-clotting ability. So if you take Marcumar or other medication, please remember to use woodruff only after taking council with your doctor or apothecary.

I came home with quite a loot and the great feeling of spring and birdsong and warmth in my heart.

Spring is here!!!!

 These days I am outside whenever I can... which is not as much as I would like, but there´s little I can do about that. I have been doing a bit of foraging, too. For instance, the plant above is pulmonaria officinalis, i.e. lungwort (in German: Lungenkraut). Good against bronchitis, and will find its way into my cough syrup.

 This is Glechoma Hederacea, ground ivy (in German: Gundermann), a spicy herb, great as a spice, in salads and soups and even as a tea. I also put it in a herbal syrup and into my birch sap mead.

 Jack-by-the hedge or mustard garlic, rich with mustard oil, with a taste similar to wild garlic before blossom, and a taste like cresses afterwards. Good as a spice, on cheese sandwiches, and I put it in spiced oil. Recent studies also claim an anticarcinogenic effect of mustard oil, which also is summat;-) I daresay...;-) Of course, I like wild garlic better, but won´t shun it if I can´t have wild garlic*ggg*.

 Ranunculus ficaria, i.e. lesser celandine, a spicy, tasty herb before blossom. After blossom you should not take the leaves. Then you can harvest the roots which are rich with starch and make a saturating ingredient in wild soups and can be used for binding sauces and soups and even pudding,

 a sweet woodruff pudding, for instance? Just kidding, of course, for sweet woodruff should not be used in large quantities. Just take a handful of plants for about one litre of syrup. Sweet woodruff can induce headaches and impair blood clotting ability due to a high Cumarine content. If you take "blood-thinning" medicaments such as Marcumar or ACC, do not use it before consulting with your doctor.

 I could not resist posting this photo of an oak and a beech making love...

 Stinging nettle, great for soup and stews and spinache! Always pick them from bottom to top, to avoid burning...

 Sloe and wild plum are blossoming. The blossoms are tasty in a  herbal syrup and have a blood cleansing effect.

 I have no shop to date other than the smithy, so I took out my hadseax and the sgian achlais into the woods and worked on it sitting on a stump. It was a great experience, being out in the spring woods, with birds asinging wildly all around, sipping my tea and playing with my tools. The knife is the seax blade that did not want to be an elvish blade;-). Mokume Gane (silver, gold and nickel) bolster, reindeer antler and yew handle. The blade is a three layer laminate, wrought iron from an old villa in Bergisch Gladbach, and 1.2842. I have tested it severely, and bent it at nearly 90 degrees. Had to straighten it afterwards, but the blade came out unscathed other than that. It also chops antler and hardwood and takes a good and keen edge. And as I sat there, sitting at the root of an old oak, I thought that this knife deserved a name, but could not think of any that made sense. Silently the wind rustled in the dry leaves of the oak, left over from last autumn still. Then it was silent again. I sipped my tea and thought hard, when suddenly I started, for there was the stem of the oak I leant to creaking violently. I paused, and asked myself... what did that mean? And as if the tree wanted to make a statement, it creaked again, even louder and longer, and there was no wind then. I smiled. Then all was silent again, and no sound to be heard. And the windd began to blow again, singing a gentler song in the leaves around. And there it was - the name I wanted to find:

Eikinnsleikr.

(Oaken song)

 I admit I brought this socially abolutely inadequate knife with me;-), stashed away at the bottom of my rucksack, of course, and with a lock in the sheath. I could say I did it because I wanted to make a sheath and needed its length to baton through a suitable piece of wood. I could say I brought it with me to shoot photos, or for historical documentation purposes. But truth is, I just love to play with it. I forged it long ago, when Matthias Zwissler was still working at the Krenzer Hammer, together with Harald, from a piece of C 60 Harald gave to me, and it has a selective temper. And I still have to say it´s one of the best knives I have ever made. It´s about 250 mm long, with integral bolsters and a massive copper buttcap. The tang is some 20 mm thick, the handle is Sambar stag.

 It has a very good balance, and thusly it is suited for delicate work as well as hard chopping tasks. I have used it for brutally hard work, such as splitting, batoning, prying and all that fun stuff you should never do to a knife;-). I have to do some blade sports...;-)

 The wild pigs were enjoying the sun, and apparently quite fond of spring also... I like these animals very much. I can relate to them, if that makes any sense;-)...

 The wild sheep rams were out also, and cut a striking figure;-)

 More tree porn...;-)

A relaxing sunbath after the mudbath...

Spring is here! I love it... long was the winter, but nature finally awakens! Isn´t that great? To me, it´s the kindling of a new flame, of hope and of light.

Foraging hike into the woods of spring

The birds were singing like mad, and the weather is becoming altogether warmer. The air has that smell and a touch to it that enbalms my whole being. Spring is here. So I went out for a stroll and thought I´d do some foraging. Above are beech sprouts (fagus, in German: Buche), and they make for a delicious salad. They have a very fine nutty flavour, and they are currently one of my favourites. Harvest them yound, and always leave at least half of the stem!

 Blueberry leaves for tea and for a herbal syrup I am currently preparing.(vaccinium myrtillus, in German: Blaubeere). They are delicious!

 Another, but controversially discussed wild food delicacy is bracken / fern (pteridium aquilinium, in German: Adlerfarn). mature, the plant is carcinogenic and even toxic. It is eaten throughout the USA, Europe and Japan and many other regions as sprouts. Wikipedia claims there is an increase in carcinome deseases (cancer) in these regions that is associated to the consumation of the plant. I personally do obstain from it for I am in doubt about it, but I feel obliged to give a choice. ALWAYS give the sprouts at least a few turns in boiling salt water. Another failsafe might be, to dry them beforehand and  then giving them a good boiling. I Japan, it seems to be customary to put them into a hot Natron solution overnight, dry them AND then giving them a turn in boiling water. It´s yours to decide. And remember: If in doubt, rather obstain from the use of a plant. They taste great, though, but I AM in doubt and so do not use them any more.

 The woods are vibrant with light these days. And those wonderful, marvellous green leaves have another advantage: Young birch and beech leaves make for a delicious salad, rich with vitamin C!

 As is sorrel;-) which I collected for syrup. (oxalis, in German: Sauerklee).

 The light healed all the darkness of winter, warm and radiant as it was.

 Aegopodium, in German: Giersch, and blimey, I can´t figure out the English name;-). But delicious as a salad and good against arthtosis, blood circulation and a load of other implications.

 Wild Strawberry leaves for tea (fragaria vesca, in German:Walderdbeere) and syrup.

 Stinging nettle (urtica, in German: Brennnessel) for tea, spinache and nettle soup.

 Garlic mustard "Jack-by-the hedge" (aliaria petiolata, in German: Lauchrauke) for schnapps, tea, as a spice and as salad. It has a garlic flavour before blossom, although not as rich as wild garlic, and tastes a bit like cresses after blossom. In any case, wild garlic tastes better by far, but it´s a good spice, albeit a bit bitter to my liking.

 Ground ivy (glechoma hederacea, in German: Gundermann) as tea, for spice and for syrup.

 Lungwort (pulmonaria officinalis, in German: Lungenkraut) as a medicinal, as a spice, as a tea and for syrup. As the name indicates, it´s good against pulmonary deseases, bronchitis and the like.

 Sweet woodruff (galium odoratum, in German: Waldmeister) for tea, syrup and as a medicinal. Good for blood circulation. Please take note that sweet woodruff is mildly toxic (gives mild to strong headaches) and should be harvested before blossom. When using in tea, always use dried herbs. In syrup, only use one bundle for 1 l, and in schnapps the like. If you use blood clot prohibitor medicaments as Marcumar or other Cumarine preparations, consult your doctor before using woodruff, for it contains a high level of cumarine and works a cumulating effect with cumarine medicaments.

 A licce liddybug*ggg* for tea... NOT.*ggg* I simply like these little fellows.

 Lugra Moros did a great job that day... and I really love that knife.

 I also collected lots of dandelion flower for syrup (taraxacum, in German: Löwenzahn) and tea.

 On my path through the vibrant, living green of the woods I met this little fellow, too. A blindworm crossed my path, and I wished it a good journey. A young one, I assume, savouring the day and basking in the sunlight.

 ...

Since there were no good photos of it up to date, I thought I´d post you some, of my favourite Shilleleagh walking stick. Blackthorn, polished bark.

 The rune is a bind rune I dreamt up, and it involves the runes "thurisaz", "thorn, giant", for the wood, and as a protective "wish";-), and "eihwaz", "yew, sorcery, death, magic, endurance".

 My "trademark" rune disc, which shows the older Futhark, the runic alphabet in circular form. No end and no beginning here...;-)

 It was getting dark, when I met this spirally little fellow... spring is here, definitely. I went home brimful with experiences and a deep satisfaction.

A happy Beltane to have had, everyone out there who celebrates it. To all the others: Enjoy spring, it´s great!