Food for Free - Richard Mabey

I used to love going Blackberry picking as a kid, and I grew up in a grotty town in Essex - even urban areas have pockets of wild growing vegetation. I love that there is this abundance of beautiful, sweet fruit there for whoever can be bothered to find it. For me it isn't a tough choice between a nice walk with my boyfriend on a sunny day, coming home with fresh berries or eating gigantic blackberries from a tiny plastic tub priced £3.99. You can get this whole book for £4.99. (or £2.93 on good ol' Amazon) Richard Mabey's 'Food For Free' is a little Collins gem pocket book guide to edible stuff growing wild in the British Isles. It was originally ...  Read the complete review

If Felicity Kendall and Ray Mears had a child I would be it. For years I have been a dedicated nature lover, always wonderfully content being outside in the country or out on the water. Without going all hippy-ish and spiritual on you, I would like to think that I am connected with nature. Not in a druid dance around naked kind of way, making sacrifices to the Harvest Gods, as I do love meat, free range and organic of course, and enjoy fishing but would never kill an animal if wasn't going to eat it. One of the many skills that mankind is losing at a worrying rate is the ability to understand and utilise nature certainly sustainably and I think I was lucky growing up ...  Read the complete review