I am trying to approach my Forestry project not just as "here is how to build a fire", but "how would this forester have lived in period".  What was this person's life like?  What was their day?  What did they live in and eat?

I am, of course, learning all sorts of things along the way, particularly regarding local plants (and how they were used in period).  One thing that has really struck home is the very narrow window of availability of many things.  

Weeks ago I envisioned crafting a pottage with young broadleaf plantain leaves, the last of the wild garlic mustard and turnips.  What I did not realize then is how quickly the garlic mustard would disappear.  Likewise with the cleavers.

I would have made this earlier, but I had intended to do it over a fire in a lovely clay pot I purchased for that purpose, and there simply has been no time.  I realized that the turnips are still sitting here, so I went out tonight and gathered young plantain leaves. Many of the plants have already developed their seed stalks, but there are still much younger ones a plenty.  You can see my documentation for use of this plant in this fashion HERE. 

So I gathered those leaves, a few leaves of kale from my garden as well as parsley and cooked up a pottage.  I started with a bit of butter and a shallot.  Onions and shallots could be stored and were available for use at times other than "in season". I started this way because I am allergic to undercooked onion and I wanted to be dead certain this was fully cooked.  

Turnips also could be stored, and early spring turnips could be available at this time of year as well.  I parboiled these as mentioned in Forme of Cury and drained them. 

I used a store bought chicken stock as my base.  My goal here is not peasant food, but rather, less formal food, and I feel stock would not be unreasonable if a chicken formed part of a former meal.

Parsley I have in abundance in my garden, and kale... well, I am pretty sure this stuff never dies and would survive a nuclear war and I have excess so chose to make use of it as part of this dish.  I opted for the older, tough leaves that would be less pleasant in a salad. 

The only other thing I added was a little salt.  I have to say that this is quite delicious, and very "comfort food" in a way.  I wish that I had a nice loaf of bread to consume with it (which I might go obtain for when I have this for lunch tomorrow).

When I did the research on Cleavers (awanderingelf.weebly.com/a-wandering-elf-in-the-woods/wild-plants-cleavers-galium-aparine), I noted that I had pulled plenty to dry to attempt to stuff a cushion for the wooden chair I use at events.  The plant is completely dry and I made the cushion from scrap linen in my stash last night.  Tonight I stuffed it and discovered that it takes quite a bit more than I expected and it only filled the pillow halfway.  The dried plant smells quite delightful, but I did spend a bit of time picking the little hitchhikers off my clothing after stuffing.

This was fine because I also have in my stash a bin of junk wool fibre.  This is wool that is the byproduct from combing and also some that felted too much when I washed it.  I added a layer of that on top of the cleavers and it seems about perfect (and Layla agrees).  I look forward to testing it out myself when she is finished.
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