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The first BASH wild food walk - a BRAMBLE RAMBLE
- took place on 30th August 2008. Ten walkers took part in a circular walk from the Phoenix Centre in Sandwich
South to Richborough Roman Fort, using a route that took in parts of the ancient town wall, Stour Valley and Saxon
Shore footpaths and bridleways.
Participants collected 8lbs of blackberries, as well as
rosehips, hawthorn berries, bullaces and elderberries. At the end of the walk a mass jam-making session took place at the
Phoenix Centre in Sandwich: 15 pots of blackberry jam were made and shared out between participants.
| blackberrying on stilts |
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| picking blackberries |
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| washing the berries |
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| part of the blackberry haul |
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| stirring the jam |
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| blackberry jam |
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The second walk - a HEDGEROW HARVEST-
took place on 4th October 2008. Fifteen walkers (including a babe in arms!) took part in a circular walk
from the Phoenix Centre in Sandwich South to the hedgerows and fields around Woodnesborough and beyond.
Participants collected wild apples,
rosehips, hawthorn berries, wild service, a few sloes and late blackberries, and nibbled on fresh horseradish en route. At
the end of the walk particpants sampled some seasonal produce using wild food, including elderflower champagne and hot rosehip
syrup, hawthorn jelly and sloe and crab apple jelly.
| fresh apples |
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| late blackberries |
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| harvesting hawthorn berries |
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| sampling wild fruit jams and jellies |
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The third BASH wild food walk - a SPRING
FORAGE - took place on 25th April 2009. As interest in the walks increased, twenty one walkers of all ages
took part in a circular walk from the Phoenix Centre to Richborough, pausing at the Roman Amphitheatre and Fort,
and walking along part of the original 'Watling Street' Roman road.
Participants collected dandelion leaves
and flowers, nettles, hedge garlic, hawthorn leaves and alexanders, a roman pot-herb. At the end of the walk, participants
tasted nettle soup, a spiced dipping sauce made of spring herbs and leaves, and buttered alexanders.
| harvesting begins |
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| picking hawthorn leaves |
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| nettle picking |
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| spring leaves and herbs |
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| nettle soup |
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The final foraging event in the
series - an ELDERFLOWER WALK - took place on 30th May 2009. Thirty walkers of all ages from 5 years upwards
took part in a circular walk around Sandwich, starting at the Phoenix Centre and walking along the ancient town
walls, taking in areas of the Quayside and river.
Participants identified and collected elderflowers, mallow
leaves, wild rose petals, hedge garlic, hawthorn leaves, horseradish and discovered sites for picking blackberries,
hips and sloes later in the year. Refreshments at the end of the walk included elderflower lemonade, elderflower
fritters, dandelion syrup, hedge garlic pesto and a dish of sauteed wild asparagus and wild garlic.
site created May 2006
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