Pickle and Brew

21/09/2026

Day 17 & 18 The Wildbiome Project 🌱

Some of the tastier of dishes on the wildbiome here. After my lucky find of giant puffballs I made a puffball steak - dipped in beaten egg ( I can have a chicken’s egg as a substitute if I find a 🪺 and there’s a few pigeon nests around)

I had a few fermented cherry plums, chickw**d, yarrow and ground ivy on the side topping it with wild thyme flowers, Rosa rugosa petals & a drizzle@of honey - tastes a bit like eggy bread.

Then I made some puffball nuggets - spiced with seasalt and Alexander pepper served with pan fried partridge and an elderberry and damson ketchup. I’ve gone off venison completely, which is a shame because I’ve got some in the freezer. If I’m honest I never really enjoyed it - but needs must.

Been making some healing brews of rosehip, Rowan, mugwort, birch polypore & elderberry. Trying to raise the antioxidants and keep well.

The thing about living off wild food is the food chatter about what you may or may not fancy for your next meal goes away. The choice is practically removed from your diet and you eat what you forage or what you have managed to squirrel away. It can be really tough some days to get the calories , it’s important to eat fats and greens but the greens have been limited. Yes there are lots of young nettles, dandelion greens and cleavers coming back but eating wild food in autumn is so different. Good job I like mushrooms!

Finishes next week but still feels like a long way to go

19/09/2026

It’s looking busy - markets, foraging wanders and workshops 🌱🍄

Excited to be involved in Yorkshire Wildlife Trust fungi festival again this year & to be invited to run another foraging wander for Open Country Yorkshire & Eden's Forest CIC

Also heading to Leicestershire to run a foraging wander in Ratby with Sasha Archer & Caraway & Sorrel, looking forward to exploring a new area 🧡

If there’s anything on the list you fancy then you’ll find more information via - https://linktr.ee/PickleandBrew or pl drop me a message 🌱🧡

Have a great day 🌞

18/09/2026

Day 15 The Wildbiome Project

It’s been a great week for shrooms. As if my giddy kipper mood couldn’t be elevated even more!!!!

The giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea - what a great name) has evaded me in its purest form for years but today I hit the puffball jackpot 🎰. Two of the kindest souls gave me a tip off because they knew I was living off wild food for the month. I wasn’t sure I’d found the right spot, sometimes it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack but when it pulls off well it’s just incredible.

There were a few at various stages, some decomposed releasing all those thousands of spores living inside the puffball and then the pristine.

I’m really looking forward to creating some dishes with them over the next few days. I’ve had them egg washed before coated with breadcrumbs, so I’ll try and recreate that using wild ingredients but they will definitely be heading for the frying pan.

I’m more than halfway there now, it’s been tough but moments like these keep you going.

Have you discovered giant puffballs before ? What sort of environment ? These seemed to be thriving amongst nettles 🌱🌱🌱

17/09/2026

Day 14 The Wildbiome Project 🌱🍄

Two weeks in living off wild food & these moments are pure joy. Can’t tell you how good it feels to discover these beautiful shrooms.

Eyes firmly fixed looking for glimmers - a change in colour in the leaf litter, a shiny cap, a little brightness from the stipe & when it happens your mood instantly elevates. No feeling quite like it - to find them in such perfect condition too, it was my lucky day.

No dehydrating these - I’ll enjoy every morsel & add them to dishes over the next day or so….

Have you discovered any yet? 🍄‍🟫🍄‍🟫🍄‍🟫

15/09/2026

Day 13 The Wildbiome Project 🌱

Now this was a good day, a very good day.

My mate Sam Foraging ForAges kindly sent me a box of damsons. We are both taking part in the wildbiome project but she’s in a different part of the country where damsons appear. We don’t seem to have any in West Yorkshire, so I did a happy dance when they arrived.

Other than creating some wild flour based biscuits I’ve not had hardly any sweet things. I missed the blackberries, thought they’d be stacks of them in my return from holiday but alas none.

So here we have a delicious damson and elderberry crumble. Cooked the fruit, destoned the damsons & created a wild crumble topping using chestnut flour, dockseed flour, cobnut oil & a little bit of local honey.

It was off the scale, so good to have a sweet treat and I’ve got one left too - wooohooo

I’m enjoying wild fish far more than wild meat but that’s my usual pattern. Almost half way there now and beginning to wonder how we managed three months last year if I’m honest. Headache long gone, energy and focus good, sleeping deeply just don’t seem to have any power in my legs to get up hills foraging 🍄🌱🍄‍🟫

11/09/2026

Day 7 & 8 The Wildbiome Project 🌱

It’s been a tough first week feeling low in energy but getting back out in nature again is so healing.

Managed to forage some greens - the young nettles are lush, the young dandelion leaves less bitter. Penny buns were popping in a reliable area so I came home with a small bag full. The squirrels must be hungry too, they had devoured caps and stipes but I was happy with what they’d left me.

The best meal I’ve had so far was a simple lunch of wild boar steak, fried porcini, yarrow and ground ivy and a cornflower sprinkle. Tasted divine and set me up for my walk. Many thanks to Force of Nature Chef for the wild boar 🐗

Gathered The Horse Field later around a campfire with other organisers and what a special evening it was. Met some wonderful people, really felt at home. It’s such a beautiful space, qi gong, a sound bath around the camp fire and even a sing song🔥

I was even reunited with two friends after a few years and what a fab surprise that was Synergy Body & Mind 🧡🧡🧡

Slept like a log after all that wonderful energy and a mug of pineapple w**d tea. Felt blessed and can’t wait for my workshop there on Saturday 🧡

09/09/2026

Day 5 & 6 🌱🍄‍🟫 The Wildbiome Project

Managed to short wander to a trusted spot in the hope of finding some shrooms, mainly penny buns if I’m honest. Alas just one cap less bun but beggars can’t be choosers - the stipe was good enough to fry up and tastes amazing.

Searching through the freezer I found a bag of wild cherries 🍒 and felt like I’d won the national lottery. The blackberries are done here and I’m so disappointed, thankfully these bags of wild fruit squirrels away are coming in handy. The juice from them tasted really good. Saved half for today.

Came across a giant polypore in fairly good condition, it fruited round the whole trunk but some had gone over. I had an idea of making a pulled (porkless) shroom dish. Prepared the shreds and marinated in hazelnut oil, elderberry and rose hip jus, Alexander pepper, ground hogw**d, sea salt, splash of apple scrap vinegar and a tiny spoon of thyme honey.

Left it for a few hours, it blackened beautifully and I fried it up serving it with some tarty hedgerow ketchup, pickled wild garlic buds and clover - delicious sweet & sour dish that made me happy. Even happier there’s enough left for another few meals.

Hopefully the boletes will appear in my area soon 🙏

I’m now on Day 7 - I’m starting to feel some energy come back, chest is clearing, headache has lifted.

We’ve got this 🥰🌱🌼🍂🍄‍🟫

07/09/2026

One attendee can’t make it now so there’s ONE ticket left if anyone fancies it xx

Local folks & beyond.

Really looking forward to this event in such a beautiful area lovingly created by Fran and Michael 🌱🌼☀️

Set in Slaithwaite close to the river and canal it’s tranquil, bursting with plants and opportunities to wander.

Foraging wander followed by wild snacks and herbal brews 🌱

Tickets available from Eventbrite or pl message me -
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/seasonal-foraging-wander-wild-snacks-herbal-brews-tickets-1994682625428?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios&sg=ffb4828305e395fc364231b67cdad5889456695ffb04a5e86e49c8c0e1afbe83228edd6b538692ed0dc14258f2ab7010a36ce91b73e0534fed4661839407c8e2877d7018d3d33f51a8f51504

06/09/2026

It’s looking busy for the next few months - a perfect mix markets, foraging wanders, festivals and workshops 🌱🍄 hoping the shrooms start to appear soon

Excited to be involved in Yorkshire Wildlife Trust fungi festival again this year & to be invited to run another foraging wander for Open Country Yorkshire & Eden's Forest CIC

If there’s anything on the list you fancy then you’ll find more information via - https://linktr.ee/PickleandBrew or pl drop me a message 🌱🧡

Have a great day 🌞