15/04/2026
// The Mother's Fire //
🌼 An afternoon exploring some of Spring's edible plants and flowers 🌼.
Nibbling the delicious & subtle flavours of Hawthorn leaves & Primrose flowers, as we sang the hawthorn song written by Anna Richardson of .earth.
Hawthorn leaves are a nutritious snack you can have straight from the bush or tree while walking & foraging. The leaves are tender and mild tasting in Spring but become bitter and more tough as they mature. They are high in antioxidants, vitamins C & B, and minerals, and Hawthorn is known as a heart healer... (More on the healing power of the haws in Autumn!).
We made Hawthorn and Cleaver tea on the fire. Cleavers are another highly nutritious wild Spring plant, rich in vitamin C, chlorophyll & flavonoids. Cleavers make a wonderful cleansing tea or cold tonic (by leaving them in cold water in the fridge overnight). The tender shoots can be cooked and eaten in stir fries or with a bit of olive oil or butter but as with Hawthorn, the leaves become more bitter and tough over time, so now is the best time to try!
We also learnt about White Dead Nettle & Yellow Archangel. White Dead Nettle contains vitamin A,C & calcium & phosphorus. The young leaves, stem tips and flowers are edible and can be added to salads & soups or can be cooked as a side vegetable. Yellow Archangel is similar, the leaves, young stems and flowers are edible and contain iron, Vitamin C & chlorophyll (and similar to Cleavers it's known as a wonderful spring detox plant).
There is so much around us in this season of new beginnings, plant allies to inspire us through the senses of sight, smell and touch... But it always amazes me how intelligent life is ~ that we are surrounded by the plants and nutrients we need in the season we are in.
After Winter our bodies and spirit and yearning for cleansing and awakening after the Winter. Let the plants Inspire you to learn more abs open to their possibilities... Always remembering that we share them with all the sentient beings, particularly the pollinators 🐝 🦋. So we learn to take just what we need and leave the rest for the whole community of earth's creatures.
