The Yukon RiverTake a visual journey with Jason down the iconic Yukon RiverJason18 April 202019 April 2020
Croatia – The Badger to Bear UpgradeTracking European Brown Bear in the Croatian wildernessJason2 May 201915 April 2020
Bushcraft and canoeing in Sweden with Woodland WaysA blend of traditional bushcraft skillsJason6 April 201615 April 2020
Urban Bushcraft – Friction Fire ExperimentsChallenging yourself to bettermentJason11 April 201914 April 2020
Bushcraft Torches and Lanterns Part 3 – Pinch pots and WicksPart of a 4 part seriesJason8 March 201714 April 2020
Three Months of Total Immersion Into BushcraftBushcraft & Survival Skills magazine competition winnerJason13 November 201414 April 2020
Observations from South AfricaAn emotive story of Continuous Professional Development Jason16 December 201414 April 2020
Forget-me-not Forget-me-not flowers are a common site in our countryside flowering from April well into June. Both the wood forget-me-not and the water forget-me-not are native to the UK and globally there are over 50 species within the genus of Myotosis. Forget-me-not plants belong to the Boraginaceae family which is named after its type plant borage and both are a close relative of comfrey which also exists in this family. Forget-me-not flowers You should recognise this plant as one not to ingest as it contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids which are harmful and found in many members of this family. The reality is you would have to eat an awful lot of the plant for this toxin to build to a harmful level but when our woods and fields are full of so many other non- toxic plants, why take the risk. Historically the plant was used like so many other healing herbs, crushed and applied to small cuts to slow down bleeding. Forget-me-not. The name forget-me-not has many origin stories but the one seeming to be most popular in the UK is about the armoured knight walking with his lover by a river. After falling in he throws a bouquet of this wildflower to his love shouting ‘’Forget-me-not!’’. Possibly this was a happy accident as any knight unbalanced enough to simply walk by a river would not have had much skill during a jousting contest, but I digress. One sure fire way to know you are dealing with Myotosis sylvatica and not another species is to look closely at the calyx structure which has ever so slightly recurved sepals at their tips. To find out more about foraging for wild foods you can join me and the team on one of our foraging courses Autumn Foraging Day Course Spring Foraging Day Course Wild Food Foraging and Preparation Weekend Hedgerow Medicine and Medicinal Wild Plants Day Course Adam Logan, Senior Instructor at Woodland Ways.
