HUNTER-GATHERING: wild & fresh food

The Treehouse diaries: 10 things I hate about you…(or is that love?)

Living in the branches in a house you’ve built with your bare hands, gleaning the surrounding landscape for food can seem like an idyllic way of life…really living each day to the full. True it is amazing, but it comes with a list as long as my arm of things that are an absolute pain in the arse!

I have narrowed it down to 10 things which really get my goat, so before you think about moving to the trees and living in la-la land, please consider the following carefully:

 

 

1: Squirrels using my corrugated iron roof for drum practise as soon as the sun comes up: It’s great having a natural alarm clock you can rely on, but not when there is no need to be up for 6am…many a time have I run onto the balcony in boxer shorts with loaded shotgun in hand hoping for an easy breakfast and a couple more hours kip.

A sign of the Times…

It seems Treehouses have become all the rage this year, I for one can see/ have felt the attraction, so when the Sunday Times asked if they could pop down, The last thing I expected was to be on the front cover of the home section…

 

Although it happened some time ago now, I have debated over whether or not it would be considered vulgar to post it on the blog. Mainly because my ugly mug is in the foreground! For me the Treehouse is the star of this show and without it, I would have no roof over my head.

 

 

I have added the article for those of you who wish to have a read, but then if you have been following the blog…you already know what life in the trees has been like!

 

 

 

 

As I approach my final month in the woods and the seasons begin to turn, I am filled sadness at having to leave my arboreal home…what will become of it? I have a few ideas…we shall see.

 

 

Homemade Cheeeeee-eeeese!: Basic, simple, easy Cheese.

 

“A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful women with only one eye”.

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.

 

Of all the Garbage that came out of this particular French Gastranome’s mouth, this is the only real gem. The more well-known and much publicised “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are” have graced many a food writer’s page- clearly a quote for the uninspired…

Badger: Roadkill burgers...

 

There comes a time in your life, when, if you wish to try something new and exotic you have to go the extra mile. Now, I don’t often take road kill home for the pot, in fact this would be a first. I like to go and shoot/trap my meat this assures me of freshness, a factor that you can only use your nose to rely on when it comes to picking up dead animals from the side of the road. I must stress there are a few “disturbing” pictures in this post of a badger being taken apart for which I do apologise…but then again, this is where my meat comes from, so I would urge you to look on.

Badger meat is something that has come under serious scrutiny over years. Fair enough. I certainly would never shoot one or even speed up the car to take out one of these fantastic bumbling creatures. I am extremely fond of badgers; one of my favourite countryside moments was watching 10 of the black and white beasts rolling around outside their burrows for a good half hour (downwind of course).  So this delve into the wild larder was going to be a difficult one, curiosity had the better of me: what can I say?

The Treehouse diaries: The things people say…

 

Telling people of your present circumstances is always going to provoke a barrage of questions if you happen to be living in a treehouse. I have had a huge variety, some serious, some hilarious and some confused, from the camo-wrapped survival geek, the overenthusiastic Radio DJ to the mum with three kids: all have surprised me, shocked me and in some cases I have been the one furrowing my brow and scratching my head.

 

The bulk of the interrogation has come from Safari Britain, where I have been teaching foraging over the summer. A lot of the campers are families from London and naturally large groups of energetic, enthusiastic city kids, suddenly unrestrained from the confines of London parks. Showing said children the fine art of gutting and jointing a rabbit or peeling a squirrel give the children plenty of gore factor to take home, as well as various parts of animal anatomy. 

 

“Can I have the head?”