Eat For Free, Rewild and Rebel
I haven't being feeling too great recently. I fainted three weeks ago, spent a night in my wonderful local hospital sharing a room with a spritely 90 year old man that lives on the next street. I am still waiting for the cardiologist appointment, so I will keep with the diagnosis my roomie came up with" your ticker is more screwed than mine, its going up and down like a yoyo and that thing aint suppose to beep off every few minutes". He had a nice constant rest pulse of 78, where as mine was somewhere between 42 and 112 with good dose of extra beats for good measure, so the bradycardia and arrhythmia alarm kept going off . My blood pressure also keeps dropping to giddy head land [98/50] hence why I fainted. Anyway I am taking it a bit easy, no alcohol, caffeine, chocolate or hot baths for now as they make my heart tick like a broken clock.
But I am still foraging, I am just not quite up for digging up burdock at moment or cycling about trying to find roadkill to eat.
Winter is the time of year our ancestor would of very dependant on digging up roots to eat, and hunting high fat migratory birds. Modern Britain as the law presently stands removal of a whole plant by digging it up can be classed as criminal damage to the land. People have being prosecuted for removing protected plants such as bluebells and digging up hedgerows that aren't theirs. Foragers are allowed to take the foliage, flowers, fruits and fungi without permission as long as you are not committing trespass or selling it on. This is regarded as a common law right to forage. To protect that right it must continue, so anyone that says you need permission from a land owner of public land is eroding your common law right. In an effort to protect a food source for future generations, every year I dig up and eat wild parsnips. I am deliberately pushing the boundary, to secure a food source for future generations. Parsnip is locally very common, is it actually regarded as a pest by the council and sprayed with glyphosphate when it grows too close to some paths. Digging up a common plant and filling the hole with soil, needs to be tested in court as to whether it is criminal damage, and considering the quantity of food poverty in britain could I claim the righteous defence of protecting life. Ok the last point is stretching it a bit. I am unlikely to end up in court, I am quite confident boasting my lawbreaking on the internet, and I am prepared to face as any consequences.
Digging up parsnips is hardly misleading parliament and that is ok at the moment.
Cockle, Wild Parsnip, and Wild Winter Salad.
This meal cost nothing but the time it took to for a cold but pleasant walk along the beach.
We went out at lowest tide to the mussel and cockle bed. There was a bit of wind blowing so combined with wet fingers, foraging for shellfish in the middle of december isnt as easy as it is normally. It did look pretty however.
Parsnip identification isnt that easy and being part of the carrot family isnt without its dangerous look a likes. It is biannual, so this last summers plants have died leaving the dried tops. These dried tops look like umbrellas, the very toxic cousins also look like this in the winter. You dont want to dig up the dead parsnips, they have no edible root and it is difficult to safely ID them in this state. However at the based of this years flowered planted are the new seeded parsnips.
The new plants that sprouted this year to flower next year are the plants with edible roots. The leaves are soft and smell of parsnip. The closest look a like is hogweed, which doesn't have the characteristic parsnip smell. The roots can be very long and aren't that easy to dig up. You must make sure when you dig up wild plants that you keep the leaves on what you digging up. It is quite easy to dig up and non-edible plant that is growing next door to what you are targeting.
Now you have risked arrest, poisoning by misid and a bad back, the other piece of vital information about hunting down wild parsnips is that the foliage reacts with sunlight and can cause chemical burns. Under the unlikely combination of bright sunlight and British winter, parsnip sap blisters the skin. This is why my local council sprays it away from path edges during the summer as it attacks local children, tourists and cyclists.
This what wild parsnip looks like, all sandy and unpeeled. The salad I picked from my neighbours garden. It is bittercress and daisy leaves. Both of which are common wild plants in everyone garden but mine. The parsnips where roasted with a bit of oil and some herbs from my garden and the salad was thoroughly washed and served with a dressing of tamari.
IF YOU WANT HELP TO ID PARSNIP BEFORE CONSUMING FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER OR INSTAGRAM AND POST UP YOUR PICCYS AND ASK. I CAN ONLY ID WESTERN EUROPEAN PLANTS AND FUNGI.
twitter @rewildblog
facebook
instagram
But I am still foraging, I am just not quite up for digging up burdock at moment or cycling about trying to find roadkill to eat.
Winter is the time of year our ancestor would of very dependant on digging up roots to eat, and hunting high fat migratory birds. Modern Britain as the law presently stands removal of a whole plant by digging it up can be classed as criminal damage to the land. People have being prosecuted for removing protected plants such as bluebells and digging up hedgerows that aren't theirs. Foragers are allowed to take the foliage, flowers, fruits and fungi without permission as long as you are not committing trespass or selling it on. This is regarded as a common law right to forage. To protect that right it must continue, so anyone that says you need permission from a land owner of public land is eroding your common law right. In an effort to protect a food source for future generations, every year I dig up and eat wild parsnips. I am deliberately pushing the boundary, to secure a food source for future generations. Parsnip is locally very common, is it actually regarded as a pest by the council and sprayed with glyphosphate when it grows too close to some paths. Digging up a common plant and filling the hole with soil, needs to be tested in court as to whether it is criminal damage, and considering the quantity of food poverty in britain could I claim the righteous defence of protecting life. Ok the last point is stretching it a bit. I am unlikely to end up in court, I am quite confident boasting my lawbreaking on the internet, and I am prepared to face as any consequences.
Digging up parsnips is hardly misleading parliament and that is ok at the moment.
Cockle, Wild Parsnip, and Wild Winter Salad.
Parsnip identification isnt that easy and being part of the carrot family isnt without its dangerous look a likes. It is biannual, so this last summers plants have died leaving the dried tops. These dried tops look like umbrellas, the very toxic cousins also look like this in the winter. You dont want to dig up the dead parsnips, they have no edible root and it is difficult to safely ID them in this state. However at the based of this years flowered planted are the new seeded parsnips.
The new plants that sprouted this year to flower next year are the plants with edible roots. The leaves are soft and smell of parsnip. The closest look a like is hogweed, which doesn't have the characteristic parsnip smell. The roots can be very long and aren't that easy to dig up. You must make sure when you dig up wild plants that you keep the leaves on what you digging up. It is quite easy to dig up and non-edible plant that is growing next door to what you are targeting.
Now you have risked arrest, poisoning by misid and a bad back, the other piece of vital information about hunting down wild parsnips is that the foliage reacts with sunlight and can cause chemical burns. Under the unlikely combination of bright sunlight and British winter, parsnip sap blisters the skin. This is why my local council sprays it away from path edges during the summer as it attacks local children, tourists and cyclists.
IF YOU WANT HELP TO ID PARSNIP BEFORE CONSUMING FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER OR INSTAGRAM AND POST UP YOUR PICCYS AND ASK. I CAN ONLY ID WESTERN EUROPEAN PLANTS AND FUNGI.
twitter @rewildblog
Comments
Post a Comment