Last week I was lucky enough to join a walk along Deptford Creek at low tide. It was cold, wet and muddy - and totally worth it!

I'm a great fan of the Deptford Creek honey that's sometimes available locally, and our guide confirmed that there are hundreds of native, introduced and exotic plant species found along the creek that contribute to the honey's distinctive flavour. This same wealth of plant-life makes the creek a genuinely unique urban habitat. Nowhere else in the city - or anywhere in the world - has quite this blend of species.

There wasn't any foraging on this occasion, but the grounds of the creekside centre itself are a great source of edible plants - as is the surrounding area. 

I'd recommend the regular creek walks to anybody who's interested. Details are online at www.creeksidecentre.org.uk/ 

Yes, it was as wet as it looks!

Wild Food Cafe, Sunday 29th April

Lewisham forager, Darren Flint will be running a wild food cafe for one day only on Sunday 29th April.  

In the morning we will gather a wealth of wild foodstuffs from around the heart of Deptford. 

Then we will return to a local community cafe for a series of hands-on cooking demonstrations. 

Finally we will enjoy our home-made feast of wild food! The menu will include traditional nettle soup, wild rocket salad, pasta with a pesto of spring leaves, nettle and peanut pakora and more. Participants will learn how to prepare all these easy dishes so that they can use foraged foods with confidence.

The workshop is suited to people with any level of experience of foraging. Darren has held family-friendly forages before, and will do so in future, but sadly this workshop is not suited to young children.  

We will gather from 10am and finish by 2pm at the latest. 

A suggested donation of £5 will cover the cost of ingredients and use of the cafe space (including refreshments throughout the day). If you will have trouble  meeting the cost please mention this in your email, as there are other ways you can offer support. No-one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Places are limited, please RSVP to dazflint@hotmail.com

Foraging in Margaret McMillan Park

Foraging in Margaret McMillan Park at the weekend revealed a pleasing array of edible plants.

In the space of a few minutes I found:

Three-cornered Leek (growing along Watson's Street)
Clover
Nettle and two types of Dead-Nettle
Chickweed
Comfrey
Bindweed
Dandelion
Good King Henry - I think!!
Horse-radish
Mallow, and...
Yarrow.

Missing was my favourite weed, wild London Rocket. I can't work out why it won't colonize Margaret McMillan, when it's all over the rest of Deptford like a rash. Such are the mysteries of life. On Sunday I was even eating rocket right from the platform of Deptford station (not where people are walking, don't worry!)

So why this exhaustive list of edibles?

I've been practising for a really exciting workshop I hope to run in a few weeks' time - a 'wild food cafe'. Watch this space for more information! :)

Salad Box project at Common Growth

Here a group of families with young children are participating in Common Growth's salad box project. (Common Growth is the community garden that I help to run on Sandbourne Road, Telegraph Hill)

The project is based on reclaimed fruit boxes that have been taken from Lewisham market. We have cleaned and painted them and lined them with heavy-duty plastic.

Then they are ready to be decorated by the children! We paint our boxes and together we fill them with compost and plant our salad seeds.

Here is a video of the recent open day at Common Growth, where I talk a bit about the project:

Eventually we will donate some of the salad boxes to local elderly people, so that they can enjoy growing fresh healthy salads in their own homes.