Plotting a Pilgrimage (A Wild Flower devotion) with Carolyn Morton

Deborah Leaf & wild orchids 21.07.22

 21.07.22

Hazy sunshine 19 degrees celsius

17 gathered on the canal tow path. It was a calm, 'no weather' sort of day; good conditions for a wander through the wild flower meadows east of Carnforth... We were here to follow Carolyn on a pilgrimage into the landscape - to learn about her relationship with wild flowers and understand a little of their powers. We moved at a slow pace, passing lightly and leaving little trace or, when foraging to tend to the plants as we went by casting seed. 'Foraging without tending is extraction' Carolyn quoted herbalists @radicalvitalism -  a useful way of thinking about taking from the landscape and the words helped me to find peace as a conflicted forager - to give back and follow the foraging rules - never take the best, leave more than you take, give thanks... 

On arriving at the squeeze style by Thwaites Farm I realised the wild flower meadows had been cut but we headed into the woods where we found a patch of wild orchids in a clearing.

At the outer mosses I realised (as we waded through waist high grasses) how much growth there'd been since my last visit  but we ventured on until we reached an Elder in a secluded dell and stopped for rose bay willow herb leaf & syrup, verbena & blackberry leaf tea. I had guided the group away from the path and clambering back into the woods via a steep incline was a challenge - but we made it back onto the path without injury and I made a mental note not to go that way again!

We returned to the canal through a brown field site, a concrete, gravel landscape left to incidentally re-naturalize. There were warning signs lining the path advising the public not to enter the site so we hovered on the outskirts to identify the range of wild flowers within the boundaries. 

Dave @myceliummatters & Carolyn @ camostudio with teasels 21.07.22

During the walk we gathered an extensive range of wild flowers and leaves for the dye pot:

Identified and recorded by Carolyn and I on 22.07.22

Greater knapweed, pink toadflax, hazelnuts, red clover, hogweed, buddleia, hornbeam, soft rush juncus, yarrow, teasel, meadowsweet, sycamore, bramble, elderberry, yellow rattle, rosebay willow herb, burdock, cleavers, common sorrel, hemp agrimony, tufted vetch, mugwort, goat willow, curled dock, ladys mantle, honeysuckle, st johns wort, self heal, rough hawkbit, yellow loosestrife, silverweed, bracken, alder cones, alder leaves, horsetail, dock leaves, seed heads, sticks, moss, gypsywort, pinecones, pine needles, herb robert, jelly ear, grasses, ribwort plantain, greater plantain, ivy. *

* we only foraged where there was an abundance or collected fallen storm damage

Ingredients foraged 21.07.22 with thanks

Thanks to everyone who attended and guest artist Carolyn Morton for sharing the magic of her art practice.

'Foraging without tending is extraction' @radical vitalism