The first foraging day
The day was sunny and moderately warm, with a gentle north breeze. The rain, a few days ago, had washed away the African dust that the south winds of April brought over here and we had already decided to take the day off from the renovation work that we are still doing.
In other words everything was ideal for foraging herbs and we didn't let the opportunity pass. Especially since last year we missed the entire harvesting season of oregano and our stock was two years old and alarmingly low!
We had spotted many oregano plants, a couple of weeks ago, to a nearby hill so we knew exactly where to go and what to expect! A unique luxury considering that we just moved in this area and this is our first foraging day here!
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We like to collect our oregano just before it blooms, when all its properties are at the highest level. So we have a short window of time trying to be as close to the blooming as possible but not too late. This gathering was right on time and the scent of the freshly cut herbs perfumed our hands and our cloths.
You may recall that the last years we have tried to make our own herb garden, I have written a fair amount of posts about our efforts to do so. But things have changed and we now share our time between two distant locations. That means that half of the year we are very far away from that land and this project is currently on hold. So until we manage to create the farm of our dreams, with all the biodiversity that we wish, foraging from the wild is the only option.
No need to repeat (but I will 🙂) that foraging goes with a little knowledge (you have to know that you are only picking safe to consume plants), a lot of respect (we only collect what we need for our personal use and always leave the plant in good condition) and enormous gratitude for the gifts of nature!
The next three pictures are irrelevant but I get easily distracted and the spring flowers are so beautiful! It was just impossible not to take a few shots and share them too :)
The sage in this area looks a little different from the one that we are used to, so we picked a small bunch just to taste it and decide if we like it. In any case sage can be picked all summer long, so we'll have many opportunities to gather some, in the months to come.
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Back home we laid the fruits of the day on a bed and grouped them in small bunches that are now hanging from the ceiling (away from direct sunlight), patiently waiting to dry :)
We may be away from our land but this is no reason to forget our favourite hive community or the beautiful habit of the monthly garden journals! This is my contribution for May!
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
Commenting, upvoting and rebloging are highly appreciated!
These are such beautiful photos, and I love hearing about how you approach foraging, dear @fotostef ! It's a joy to imagine the smells! I too will be harvesting some origano and 'maggiorana in the next month, from my and neighbours' gardens. I use it a LOT in my kitchen. 😍 Happy herbing!
Yes, the smells are mesmerising!
Thank you very much Clare, happy harvesting to you too :)
Beautiful! Nature provides so many wonderful things, and with a little paying attention, we can find almost everything we need. And then grow the rest ourselves, of course!
Thanks for the lovely share!
Actually nature is the only provider but mankind seems to have forgotten it!
Thank you very much for stopping by :)
oregano...never saw how it grows...so nice plant
how do you use it?
and "foraging" - a nice term, also new for me but I do like it. We need to keep nature as much as we can.💚
so warm photos, so adorable!
and those irrelevant as well;)
Oh yes, oregano is one of my favourite herbs. We use it almost daily as a spice in our cuisine but also as an ingredient of herbal tea. Actually the tea I am drinking right now has oregano, sage and dictamnus!
I learned the word "foraging" in hive too. A wonderful term to describe the gathering of food from nature!
Thank you very much :)
Nice shots 😍 That's looks so fresh 😄
Fresh indeed!
Thank you for stopping by :)
You're welcome :)
What beautiful photos. And look at that sun - @traisto is even wearing a hat! I can SMELL the oregano in the sunshine. I have so much of it here - it grows like anything! What specific things do you make with it or do with it? I add it to a lot of my meals. So good! I also like oregano pesto - have you ever tried it? Thanks for sharing this post - absolutley loved it!!
Thanks a lot :)
We use it a lot at cooking, raw olive oil and oregano goes on top of most of our dishes. But we also use it in a herbal tea mix. I haven't tried oregano pesto though, sounds good!
It is!!!! It's delicious. Same recipe as ordinary pesto. So good. Let me know if you try.
I will :)