Sprung!

t last! The spring messenger has arrived. On the 14th February I noticed some clumps of Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) flowering at the bottom of my driveway, yellow stars embracing the weak winter sunshine. I'd been away for a few days, so they may have braved the Yorkshire elements even earlier. Nevertheless, as the internet has so usefully reported to me, in around 1800 Gilbert White (natural history diarist extraordinaire), recorded the flowers as appearing on February 21st in Selborne, Hampshire. Spring is being sprung rather earlier nowadays.

This year's Valentine, dear Celandine

So, the spring's foraging opportunities are increasing and on the wonderful Eat Weeds I came across this Stroganoff for my Lesser Celandine... I haven't yet tried it, as it feels wrong to deplete these sunny harbingers so soon. Perhaps when I've found a glossy green carpet of them I'll have a go, or maybe someone else would like to try it out?

Last week I went to the Soil Association annual conference, and among the absorbing sessions met some interesting and inspiring people. One of whom, the lovely Holly, is part of a project called Fruitmap. It started in Slovakia, as a way to map forage-able fruit and nut trees in towns and cities. It's spreading, and aims to be a global network of accessible fruit, so if anyone wants to get involved please do! We can add trees wherever we are in the world, ensuring more people have access to beautiful, free, crumble ingredients...