Nettle and Wild Garlic Oat Crackers

Early spring marks the start of my annual rush to eat as many nettles as a possibly can while they are at their best. This year, however, I decided that wasn't enough. I want the goodness of young nettles all year round, so with the help of my trusty dehydrator, I transformed them into a beautiful green powder.

I have been sprinkling this powder into soups and stews, and even sometimes on pizza to add a nutritional kick and earthy flavour. I haven't been using it for my packed lunches much, so I thought I would try making it into something small and portable that will keep for a while. I think oat crackers are the perfect candidate! I can make a batch on the weekend which should last me all week - leaving my evenings free for me to relax.

I have loosely based these oat crackers on a recipe in Jack Monroe's book, A Year in 120 Recipes. Here are the ingredients I used:

• 30g Butter
• A splash of Water
• 120g Oats
• A Pinch of Salt
• 2 Teaspoons Nettle Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Wild Garlic Powder
• A pinch of Salt and Pepper

I put my oats in a small blender to make them into a rough powder. She suggests heating up the water and butter in a pan but it's a hot day and I'm feeling a bit lazy so I just mixed it  together with a spoon to form a sticky dough.

Continuing my lazy theme, I didn't role the dough out on a floured board. Too much washing up for my liking! Instead I greased a baking tray and squidged lumps of the dough onto it, cutting the cracker to shape, then picked off the excess. I think thats a pretty neat way of doing it!

I cooked these in the oven at 180c for 20 minutes, turning them half way though. They came off the baking tray nice and easily and in no time I had gobbled about half of them with cucumber and some of my pickled rock samphire. Sooo good. I think next time I will add more of the wild garlic powder as the flavour was quite subtle, but I love how easy they are to make and can't wait to take some into work with me. Not sure I will be able to wait till lunch time though!

Foraged Hagstone Necklaces

Hagstones are stones often found on the beach, which have a naturally occurring hole in them, which allows them to be threaded and sometimes worn. They have a rich variety of folklore and customs associated with them, and I think they could be good objects to use in this collection of jewellery, because not only are they completely natural, but they also have a lot of folkloric history and are often used as talismans. When I was researching the use of hagstones, I came across this paragraph in Traditional Witchcraft by Gemma Gary:

“The naturally holed flint stones, also known as hagstones, are another important tool used by West Country charmers. They are collected to be used in a number of protective charms and one special holed stone will be kept aside as a tool to manifest or ‘birth’ desires or changes. Such a stone may incorporate a knotted cord and it will be known as a wishing stone, or as I was taught by one Witch in Cornwall: a whispering stone, so called due to the way in which it was employed magically. Another will be kept as a ‘weather stone’, or ‘wind stone’ to conjure or banish certain types of weather.” (page 86)

and 

“West Country Witches, male and female, will often wear a necklace or pendant of magical virtue. Such things as hagstones and birds feet are used.” (Page 87)

I think the idea of whispering to the stone to “birth” desires and changes is an interesting one, as it gives the wearer interaction with the object. This could lead to a hagstone necklace becoming emotionally durable, which means the person would be less likely to discard it and buy new jewellery, making it more environmentally friendly.

I think hagstones are perfect for my foraged talisman collection of jewellery, because not only are they used as amulets, but they are also ready made beads! I started making some necklaces using hagstones I found in Plymouth, and used wool that I found on barbed wire and spun into yarn. I also used some beads that I made using kelp stems which had washed up on the same beach I found the hagstones on. 

For my degree show, I wanted to make 13 hagstone necklaces, and decided to try to make them into one piece of art. Of course this had to be completely foraged as well so I made this frame using a hazel rod, some of my barbed wire wool dyed with oak apples, and an oak apple on each end!

I got quite a lot of interest in my hagstone necklaces at the degree show, so I am now selling them individually. Each one comes in a hand-sewn pouch with a little folded handwritten note about the folklore of hagstones! They also come with a little packet of wild flower seeds made from recycled paper. These are now available on my Etsy page, which you can see here:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/277793522/hagstone-necklace-made-with-foraged-kelp?ref=shop_home_active_2