I like doing a good bit of foraging and colleting stuff. One of my pet hates is seeing stuff that could be used for something being thrown away and ending up in land fill and then seeing people purchase something new that takes yet more from a world that can ill afford it. Mind you I have been banned from hard rubbish days for the time being until I use up what I have already rescued.

I have been looking for some additional pallets to put up some shelves in the back shed and happened to notice a good batch of them at favourite haunt. I use pallets all the time and keep a good stock to allow me to make things like the warm bed I made recemtly for my seedlings, so I grabbed them and will build the shelves and post on that and other projects shortly.

Also managed to get a hold of a nice big bag of nettles to make soup. For those of you who have never had nettles give it a try. It tastes fantastic is cheap and very very good for you. Be careful obviously that you know where you nettles come from just to make sure that they have not been sprayed.

Using these sorts of things in simple meals makes a big difference. We waste so much spraying out so called weeds to plant other plants and as I have said a frugal life has to become the norm in the 1^st world as it is in the 3^rd world. At the end of the day we all live in one world.

As for the nettles if I can get some more I am going to make pesto with some local hazelnuts I have

Recipe for Nettle Soup

• Big bag of young nettles
• 1 large onion
• 6 -8 garlic cloves to taste
• 3 potatoes (I used Dutch creams)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 liters of stock (chicken or vegetable)
• cream to taste when serving (optional)

Dice onions and potatoes and crush garlic sauté in olive oil for a few minutes.

Strip the leaves of the nettles (warning they bite) I use scissors to remove the leaves and wash in cold water if there is any dirt on them

Add to the pan with the other vegetables and wilt then add 2 liters of stock and cook for 20 minutes or so till potatoes is soft. Cool and puree with a stick blender. Reheat and serve with cream and cracked black pepper.

The soup will freeze well but don’t add the cream till you warm it up

(Note : I made a mistake and started with too small a pan which is why you see two pots in the photo’s next time I would just use the big pot)