Issue #23 The Miscellaneous Adventures Digest
Birch offerings, a short adventure, golden gorse and a bonus recipe...
Greetings! A relatively short one from us this week. The week seems to have flown by and we’ve not been able to catch up with it. We have been writing something a little longer that we haven’t quite finished so that will have to wait until next week…
Firstly, some news. We have finally got around to re-stocking our store! Over the last few months I’ve been making a small collection of vessels and objects from birch and we’re happy to say that many of them are now available over on the shop page on our website. This small collection of goods has been created from wood harvested throughout the winter as part of our woodland management and conservation work. Birch is probably my favourite species of tree and also my favourite wood to work with (there is perhaps a paradox there) so this collection seeks to honour the beauty, resilience and pioneering spirit of birches. The old norse word for birch, birker gives its name to several places here in the Lake District, Birker Fell, Birker Force and Birks Bridge, giving an indication as to how the land would have looked once upon a time. Thus we have named the collection “Birker” in the hope that one day birch trees will be allowed to return to these mostly deforested and denuded landscapes. We have some more stuff to follow but please do take a look and let us know what you think!
No grand adventures this week but we did manage a walk up to Greendale Tarn near Wastwater. We have been here several times before and always enjoy the rocky route following a tumbling beck which is good company for the duration. This was once a bit of a challenge for Benji (which you might remember from this issue) but now he climbs up with ease and we were up and back down before we knew it.
It’s been a busy week for work. Both of us were in Elterwater putting up some fencing in one of the woodlands we look after. It was extremely boggy and we both ended up sinking into the ground up to our knees on multiple occasions. It’s nice to be able to work together in the woods; we haven’t been able to since we moved up here. Some couples go out for dinner or to the cinema to spend time with each other, but we’re happy enough putting fences up in bogs together.
I’ve been learning to make hazel hurdles this week with the Coppice Coop, which involves weaving and twisting hazel rods together to make a solid panel. I’m pretty happy with how my first one turned out but my hands are killing me!
How was your week?
Nature Happenings
Hello, Emma here! At this time of year, the hills around our home are covered in a glorious burst of sunshine yellow. Common gorse (Ulex europaeus) can flower all year round and its always a joy to see such vivid colours against a drab grey winter’s sky. In spring however it really puts on a riotous show, covering whole hillsides in gold. The fiercely spiky dark evergreen stems are densely clustered with beautiful yellow bilaterally symmetrical flowers which are worth a closer look. Each one is perfectly formed to allow insects to access the sweet nectar inside whilst giving them a sneaky dusting of pollen at the same time. If you watch a patch of gorse for long enough, you’ll see bees and all manner of other pollinators wriggling their way inside the flowers. All members of the pea family have similar shaped flowers - it’s interesting to compare the shape of gorse flowers to those of the peas that you might grow at home or the little trefoils that pop up on your lawn.
The smell of gorse bushes on a warm spring day is also incredible, the sweet, tropical scent of coconut and vanilla invoking the promise of summer, reminding us of sunscreen, surf wax and ice cream.
Gorse flowers are edible (in moderation, all members of the pea family produce nitrogen and contain small amounts of potentially toxic alkaloids, so go easy). Benji says they taste like fizzy Haribo, we’ll let you decide if you agree!
Each April I make a syrup infused with the flowers that captures the coconut flavours beautifully. I learned this recipe from the excellent book ‘Forage’ by Liz Knight of Forage Fine Foods and have made it for the last 3 years. It’s delicious.
How to make gorse syrup:
Collect around a pint of gorse flowers. If you can, pick them on a sunny morning and choose flowers that are already warmed by the sun, as these will be releasing peak scent and flavour.
Back home, lay out your flowers for an hour or so to let any bugs escape and then add them to a large jar. Dissolve 500g of sugar in 400ml of water and pour this over your flowers. Push them all under and weigh them down with a bit of parchment paper and another jar to keep them submerged.
Leave them overnight to infuse. The next day, strain the flowers and add the syrup to a pan. Bring to a gentle boil and add lemon juice to taste. You want to add a bit of sharpness to offset the sweetness.
Bottle and seal when still warm. It should keep in the fridge for a couple of months.
Use it in drinks or drizzle on pancakes and porridge and be sure to let us know if you try it!
Well, that’s all for this week. Don’t forget there are still a few gift copies of A Sand County Almanac going over on Adventurous Ink. And, if you missed it, Emma did a little reading from the book which you can watch over on our Instagram.
Warm wishes,
Andrew, Emma and Benji
x
PS: We always appreciate any sharing, recommending and subscribing so if you enjoy our newsletter and want to support us then please feel to do so in any way you can!