Whittling and Foraging

We met on a tempestuous October evening among the swirling leaves to get in touch with our more natural selves curtesy of Leona and Leonie from Calderdale’s Live Wild. We started the session by going outside and standing in a circle and closing our eyes to open our senses to the natural world. It was a good night for it, with leaves scuttling around and the river babbling loudly nearby. When we returned in doors we split into two groups one group having a go a whittling.

This was social, good fun and surprisingly easy. So much so, that I am now the proud owner of a homemade Skirtle (a porridge stirrer for the uninitiated). We swapped groups half way through the evening and talked about foraging concentrating on what was available at this time of year.

Leonie introduced us to drinks made from Rowan and Elderflower berries and nettle tea.

There was even time for some of the more creative amongst us to make a bracelet out of nettles. Our evening ended as usual with cake and tea with the lovely edition of cheesy scones; thank you to Ann for those. Anyone wishing to pursue woodcraft further can get in touch with Live Wild at: http://www.livewild.org.uk or on Facebook: livewildcalderdale. Thank you to Live Wild for being such lovely company and opening up a little of what goes on in the woods in Calderdale for us.
Jeni Wetton.