The Wild Journal

“Whether you live in a house or flat, in a rural or urban environment, this beautiful book shows how to harness the natural world around us and feel more grounded and rooted in our surroundings. The Wild Journal celebrates the potential of nature to mend, heal, and transform our mood. The simple, back-to-basic habits and small seasonal changes in the book can help everyone to counteract the unpredictability and chaos of everyday life.” 

Just hand my credit card over! As we rolled into 2021, I was immediately sold by that byline and bought a friend and myself a copy of Willow Crossley’s The Wild Journal – A Year of Nurturing Yourself Through Nature. 

This is a wonderful, beautifully illustrated, easy-to-read journal, full of ideas and inspiration for anyone seeking to live a life more immersed in nature. We’ve been enjoying the book; the kids love our little projects although not the pesto 🙂

Winter wonder: Birdsong

No sooner was there fresh snow on the ground, when we replaced the batteries in Elsa’s Birdsong book and got ourselves outside listening to the birds. To attract the birds into our garden, we made the Fat Ball Bird Feeder with some string, an old yoghurt pot, a scoop of lard and bird feed. My engineering skills were topnotch, although a sudden burst of spring melted one of them.

Springtime forage

Found in woodland from late winter to early spring, wild garlic transforms your foraging finds into a tangy sauce. Luckily, over the spring we were gifted some wild garlic by our neighbour and made this Wild Journal recipe twice, a new favourite!

Wild Garlic Pesto

100g wild garlic leaves, thoroughly washed

50g Parmesan cheese, grated

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

50g toasted pine nuts

Lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste

1. Place the wild garlic leaves, Parmesan, olive oil and pine nuts in a food processor and blitz. Add more oil if you prefer a thinner texture, and mix again.