Last weekend we finally got round to taking a well-earned break before going back to Uni. We didn’t go far, just to a small campsite in Fife, but wow did we get the weather for it! From the minute we arrived the overcast sky began clearing and each day just got better than the last, culminating in a perfect blue sky for Monday’s Equinox. 
We arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday and by the time we got the camp set up there wasn’t much opportunity for a good look around. That said, I was (sometimes literally) tripping over herbs whilst pitching the tent. Our pitch was called Catkin and the entrance was a pathway through some young Birch trees with our area marked out by a low hedge of Brambles, some of which were making a bid for freedom onto the grassy path. Getting down on the grass to pitch the tent soon showed us why the site was called Strawberry Fields; it was covered with Wild Strawberry plants, but sadly with no actual berries on them. It also had a healthy proportion of Plantain, as all good grassy areas should, in my opinion. As the sun set on our first night another herb which caught my eye was Lady’s Mantle. Most of it had long since finished flowering, as has mine at home, but there was one small fresh patch still with those tiny yellow flowers shining out amongst the seedheads in the field – Summer hadn’t quite gone yet.
Walking round the site next morning it seemed the birds had had the best of the Elderberries. Fair play really and I wasn’t harvesting anyway because I only had a camp kitchen so processing was out of the question. The hedges were heavy with Haws though as well as Rosehips which just shone out against the dark woodland backdrop as the sun lit them up. The clearings in the woodland were teeming with wild herbs but the one which interested me this time was Horsetail. I enthused about its virtues to much polite nodding but when I mentioned the silica content and its ability to polish pewter he got interested. I was informed that this is because silica is higher up the Mohs hardness scale than pewter. The conversation then veered off onto diamonds and iron and cleavage planes… We did, however, take some back to camp with us (Horsetail not diamonds). As predicted it didn’t make a dent in the stainless steel pots but it did a splendid job of scouring the food off them; a handy herbal camping tip. I also found some Meadowsweet under the Birches which I made a tea from in an attempt to shift a thumping headache on Monday morning. It had gone to seed but I threw some leaves into my morning tea which then tasted of Disprin – bleuch!! I drank it anyway but it didn’t really help. Several litres of water and a fried breakfast also failed mind you so the only real solution would probably have to been to NOT have drunk all that wine on Sunday night!
Sadly I don’t have that many pictures for this post. So, instead I’ll just share my Equinox Sunset and the First Sunrise of Autumn…
