I took advantage of a dry end to the day last week and walked up the hill. I'd not been this way for a couple of weeks so everything looked so much greener with leaves on the trees.
The lanes are so pretty at the moment with wild flowers - Bluebells and Stitchwort here.
Looking down towards Builth.
Unfurling bracken . . . Eaten as a delicacy in China, Japan and Korea, but it is thought to be carcinogenic, including the spores. Gosh, when I think of the dens we had in bracken when I was a kid . . .
Tawny mining bee??? on Cow Parsley.
We still plan to walk round (and perhaps up when my back's not out - off to the Chiro again next week!) this lovely hill just up the road from us.
It's lovely to look across the landscape now that it is softened by leaves on the trees.
The Bluebells are quite late here - in Carmarthenshire they are nearly over - Tam went to the Bluebell Woods at Dinefwr yesterday and said as much. Still, we are further north and spring is later here.
A close-up of Lady's Bedstraw, once used for bedding as its name suggests. One Medieval legend has it that Jesus was born in bedstraw and bracken. The bracken refused to acknowledge Jesus and had its flower taken away. The bedstraw "bloomed in recognition" and was rewarded with a golden flower.
It was also associated with birth in Scandinavian mythology - it is called Frigg's Grass, as a sedative given in childbirth is made from it. (Frigg is the goddess of married women). (https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/ladys-bedstraw)
Common Vetch and Garlic Mustard snuggled together. Another name for this vetch is Poor Man's Peas, and there is evidence to suggest it was regularly eaten in the past and even cultivated for its seed pods as they are high in protein. Medicinally it has been used to treat eczema and similar skin conditions. Garlic Mustard is an antiseptic herb, used on skin ulcers, bruises and sores, and also for clearing coughs and colds. The greens are high in vitamins A and C and apparently the roots taste like Horseradish. Vetch from: https://www.wildfooduk.com/edible-wild-plants/vetch-3/
Looking down across Builth, sat in the valley bottom below the hills. When the Royal Welsh show is held and the weather is very hot, the showground acts like an amphitheatre and holds that heat. Folk have been known to swoon from it.
Finally, a rose in a planter, one of several I inherited with the house, is almost in bloom. I gave them all a feed this week, which you are meant to do before they bloom and some are putting out buds now.
Such knowledge of plants and wild flowers - mine is somewhat sketchy. But then, like you said on your reply to my blog - you have lots of interests.
ReplyDeleteI like the area by Builth very much - and over towards Radnor too. Have you been to Water Break Its Neck falls - that is a good walk and not too hard.
I recognize many wild flowers - botany having been one of my interests since I was just 6 years old! I find it fascinating to read of their uses in the past and medicinally, in the present too.
DeleteI've heard of Water Break Its Neck falls - must check out the route and Tam and I will go exploring WHEN this rain stops! The area round here is a lot more beautiful than you realize from just driving through.
Oh definitely - and that's what most folk do - just drive through, but it's full of great places. I think Abergwesyn Pass, which is not too far away, is the best valley/pass in Wales. But as you say, there is so much to do in Mid Wales - anywhere else and it would be National Park no question.
DeleteOoh, it sounds like a place my cousin Mike (a biker) would really enjoy. I would be holding up traffic I think!! Will have to check it out though. Thanks for the heads up.
DeleteIt is all greening up. Thank you so much for sharing the Lady's Bedstraw photo; I had heard of it but never saw it before. I wonder, does it have a fresh scent? I hope the chiro helps your back. It is so wearing to have a bad back.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it? For many years I have written about a hundred shades of green in the springtime, when all the trees put out fresh leaves. It lifts the spirit wonderfully.
DeleteMy back is too crabby to bend down and smell the bedstraw at the moment - I know it smells like hay (a wonderful scent) when it is dried and used as bedding.
Peter (chiro) WILL make me better. We have known each other many years and he is brilliant at his job and such a lovely person too. We always have a natter and set the world to rights - we come from the same place, so to speak, in our tenets and beliefs.
Spring is finally coming! Our flowers are at slightly different stages, despite us not being that far apart geographically. My American friends call those unfurling ferns "Fiddleheads" and it's easy t see why. They are, apparently, a delicacy in America too.
ReplyDeleteFiddlehead ferns are a different "breed" I believe, but our British bracken is NOT edible. I know in the past it was used for animal bedding, but that's about as useful as it gets I should think.
DeleteYou're lower down than us so I think spring came earlier, especially as you're close to the coast. Enjoy!
Builth Wells has a very active womens walking group.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. Good for my daughter, but I would be very much a tail-end-charlie with my asthma! I'll look it up for Tam.
DeleteI hid in the Surrey bracken too when I was a kid. So far, no ill effects that I know of.
ReplyDeleteBracken dens were the best. I only have to smell crushed bracken fronds to suddenly be transported back nearly 60 years. I can remember laying beneath the bracken, listening to the hum of insects and seeing shreds of blue sky through the fronds.
DeleteSaturday I was at our little creek, and was marveling at the fiddlehead fern unfolding. Some eat them here too. I have never heard that they were carcinogenic before.
ReplyDeleteI think it's only our British bracken which must be avoided. It's a thorough pest and poisons the ground around it so other plants don't grow.
DeleteThe fiddleheads eaten in North America are from the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) copied from the web.
ReplyDeleteMy late mother-in-law was a champion forager of wild edibles. Harvesting'Fiddleheads'was a big part of New England springtime. They have to be rinsed in several changes of water, then steamed and served with butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper. A real delicacy.
I remember you telling me once before about the Fiddleheads being eaten. I think it sounds like the several changes of water render them palatable.
DeleteI know in North American tribes (Sacramento area), several of the woodland ones used Acorns (carefully prepared) as food (Wiiwish, just looked it up). A sort of Acorn Mush. Yet in the New Forest, in Hampshire, ponies who gorge on too many acorns are known to die from Vitamin B deficiency I think it is due to the Gallic and Tannic Acid in them.
Love those pictures! Breathtaking shots!
ReplyDelete