Autumn's Bounty.

Hello lovelies,

October is here, and with the scent of woodsmoke and damp, moldering leaves in the air...Autumn my favourite season.

At this time of year, I love, love LOVE to forage. September saw a wealth of juicy berry delights from the hedgerows and swollen ruby rosehips from the wild roses down by the river. My garden has been generous with it's bounty too, I've made litres and litres of Cavalo Nero soups and a huge batch of nasturtium pesto which is spectacularly delicious.






I'd like to share some the recipes with you which I came across on Pinterest and saved to my 'Foraging Finds' board, check it out for heaps of wild (and not so wild) foody inspirations. Each year...almost without fail, I make rosehip syrup from foraged hips...the small ones work best for good colour. It's packed with natural vitamin C and is reputed to keep colds and flu at bay, worth a shot if you ask me. 

This recipe is from River Cottage and works every time :)

- Sterilise a couple of bottles and vinegar-proof screw-tops or stoppers by washing thoroughly in hot soapy water, rinsing well, then putting them on a tray in a low oven (at 120°C/Gas 1⁄2) to dry out and heat up.

- Roughly chop a couple of kilo's of rosehips in a food processor in batches, then transfer to a large saucepan and add 1.25 litres water.

- Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for around 15 minutes.

- Strain through a double layer of muslin, letting the pulp sit for a good half hour so that all the juice passes through.

- Wash out the muslin, or cut a fresh piece, fold to double it and pass the strained juice through it again.

- Measure the rosehip juice into a large saucepan.

- For every 500ml, add 325g sugar.

- Heat slowly, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and boil for 3 minutes, skimming off any scum if necessary.

- Decant immediately into the prepared bottles and seal.

- Label when the bottles have cooled completely.

- Use within 4 months and refrigerate once opened.

Hugh's serving suggestions are - Try it for breakfast trickled over porridge, pancakes, drop scones or eggy bread; use it to sweeten plain yoghurt (with some chopped apple if you like); or for a delicious pud, trickle it on to hot or cold rice pudding or good vanilla ice cream.
I also like it just in a glass of hot water to sip, it's addictive!

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Next up, my second favourite...Nasturtium Pesto (found on Foodista blog)...wow this stuff is good and so so easy to make. My garden was bursting with flowers and leaves growing all around the raised beds this year, I've been adding them to salads and soups through the summer, but this is a great way to use a LOT at once, you can even freeze it!

Ingredients:

100g Nasturtium Leaves freshly picked and washed

3 large garlic cloves

70g Parmesan cheese

70g almonds or (I used cashews) – roughly chopped

160ml extra virgin olive oil (I used rapeseed oil)

1tsp salt

Method: - simply blitz everything together in a blender and pop into an airtight jar or kilner type if using fresh, if freezing, put in a tuppaware box and defrost as needed.

I've been scoffing this with pasta, on pizza's and mixed into marinades, it's a little spicy from the leaves, but fresh and delicious, enjoy xx.

I hope you enjoy making these scrummy autumnal treats, feel free to add your favourite recipes in the comments below, I can't wait to try some out.

I hope you'd like to check back with me again soon, I have some VERY exciting news to be announced in the next blog post coming in November...EEeePPP!! Watch this space...why not subscribe so you don't miss it??

But in the meantime, here's to toffee apples, hot chocolate chilly fingers in wooly gloves and frosty walks, a celebration of the coming of winter, wrap up warm peeps, 

TTFN,

Love Ceri

xx

Eco Printing, campfires and stars...

Hello hello my lovelies,

It's been one busy summer and now, as the season turns it's face towards Autumn, all thoughts here at OSHQ start to revolve around Christmas preparations.

The festive soaps are well underway already and I'll do a separate post about these soon, but today I'd like to tell you a little about my other product stream, my Eco Printed range of silks and original art pieces. Eco printing is a technique to create a print from plants, leaves and flowers. Each one is unique and original, the colours and patterns cannot be replicated as the print is created from the pigments inside the plant materials themselves.

Laying out gathered Meadowsweet,
Copper Beech and Blackberry leaves onto the silks.

I've been extremely lucky to have just completed an artists residency up on the Northumberland fells at a beautiful spot in the remote region of Tarset, near Bellingham. 'Wild Northumbrian' are an eco friendly site providing very comfortable, off grid, luxurious camping accommodation in traditional yurts, tipi's and a handmade shepherd's hut. It's based inside the Northumberland Dark Sky park too, so the night skies were blimmin awsome!!

The View over the Northumbrian Fells.

My husband Phil from Scapeography was also resident and working on an ancient woodland photography project during our stay. It involved a lot of pre-dawn starts and tromping in the woods, then late night finishes gazing at the glorious plethora of visible stars in one of the darkest skies in the country...no bad way to spend your days eh? Check out his facebook page or Twitter account (@Scapeograph) for more details of his work and a peek behind the scenes at his current projects.

Our Sweet little Bothy through the Apple trees

During our stay, we had full run of the sweet handmade Polebarn Bothy, with a gorgeous log burner and fire pit to 'cook' my eco-prints over. I spent my days gathering local plant materials, attempting new dyeing techniques with plant materials I'd never used before and using off grid methods of heating so I had my work cut out.

Lichen can also be used as a dye,
I might have to try this one day too.

We were there for 4 days and I had quite a crowd at some times with lots of interest about how each print is made, what plants I've used and how each print is created, it was a learning curve for me as well as my visitors too as I don't tend to offer workshops or talks about my work (that's what comes of being a bit of a shy bird with a fear of crowds), but the wonderful feedback I received made me think I managed it quite well...PHEW!!

My kind of neighbors.

I'm delighted to say the dying and prints worked out well and I'm extra delighted with the (some surprisingly bright) results, see some of them below, what do you think?

These are both from Madder root,
such amazing colours!!

Silk bundles cooking on the stove.

Madder root in the pot, Wild Blackberry,
Copper Beech and Sycamore leaves leaving their
 ghosts on the silk.

Eucalyptus and Oak leaves give a strong
and colourful print.

This little guy kept a close eye on the activities.

Finished Scarves, cushions and mounted prints
 displayed in our Polebarn Bothy during our stay.

 As I type I'm soaking the 30+ prints I made during our stay, so I'll add more images once they are fully finished, dried and pressed. The scarves etc will be available to buy direct from my events, my studio and if I get a chance...from the website too...watch this space.

Huge thanks to the fantastic Rob and Vicky at 'Wild Northumbrian Tipi's and Yurts' for the use of their beautiful site for this project during our stay. The Yurts, Tipi's and Shepherd's huts are available to book via their website www.wildnorthumbrian.co.uk, so if you fancy a taste of off grid, luxury camping, go check them out and book a stay, you'll want to move in...we did :)))

I'd love to hear what you think about the scarves and eco printing as I love to make them, feel free to leave a comment below.


TTFN and until next time xx

Love,
Ceri x