The bold and daring of the grey squirrel took us by surprise this week. I know a lot of people take their kids to the park to feed the ducks bread, but we found a family feeding the grey squirrels monkey nuts. And they loved them! It was incredible; the squirrels came right up to them and took them out of their hands then dashed away to safety, dexterously shelled them and feasted on the nuts within. It was fantastic to watch.Â

So needless to say we will be returning with our own pockets full of nuts next week.

We found some amethyst deceivers this weekend. They looked purple jewels strewn across the woodland floor amongst the autumnal colours of orange, reds and browns.

Their contrasting colour gives them a mystical and magical appearance, it’s hard to believe they are edible. We’ve dried some and placed them in a jar to eat at a later date, apparently they’re good in mixed mushroom dishes. They’ve lost their vibrant purple colour and are now a subtle mauve, but I’ve heard the vibrancy returns when you reconstitute them. They smell amazing and look bizare, a little like an ingredient you might use to spice up a witches brew!Â

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Mushrooms can pop up in the most unlikely places. For 2 years we’ve been looking for the elusive cep (or penny bun). Hunting it down in parks and woodlands across Scotland, but it has always eluded us. And then, on Tuesday afternoon, on a routine trip to the local swing park we made a surprising and very exciting discovery.Â

The kids took a unscheduled detour by the banks of the canal to lookout for the swans. Daundering behind my pace was hastened by the excited cries of mushroooooooms! and the sight of the kids jumping up and down in excitement. The ground was covered with mushrooms, ceps, all big and round and penny bun like. We gathered what hadn’t been gorged by opportunistic insects, left a few more to spread their spores and returned home with nothing short of a feast. Delicious fried in butter with a hint of garlic topping a homemade carbonara!  Â

For years people have used pigs and dogs to hunt for truffles, but as it turns out kids can be just as useful in sniffing out mushrooms. They seem to seek them out like hidden treasure.

It can be a dangerous hobby with many mushrooms in this country being seriously poisonous -hundreds have died! Â But it is fun playing detective to firstly find them, secondly figure out what they are (through look, smell and location) and finally if you are 200% sure they are edible, eat them.

Best set down some ground rules first when it comes to children, no touching, no smelling, no licking, no picking and definitely no eating!

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It’s that time of year when nature produces a bounty of free food to feast on. From berries, fruit and nuts to edible mushrooms.

Kids love a treasure hunt and that is what foraging for wild food is all about, seeking out and plundering natures bounty. They’re pretty good at it too, I think it must be their proximity to the ground and their enthusiasm for discovering new things.

This week we found an incredible forest of brambles (blackberries) in our local park. They all seemed to be ripe at the same time, big, black and juicy! We picked 8lb in one go, filling every container we had. The problem was deciding what to do with them, bramble and apple pie, bramble jelly, bramble smoothies, bramble fool, bramble… We went for bramble jelly and it is delicious!

Here is our bramble jelly recipe, adjust the quantities depending on how many you pick: Read the rest of this entry »

New this month are these fantastic SEEDBOMSs handmade by KABLOOM. They’re constructed using recycled materials and full of everything you need to grow healthy flowers in inaccessible areas.Â

So if you want to brighten up your surroundings, or want do dare someone else to do it for you, check out our online shop for a special introductory offer.

There is more to Palacerigg Country Park than the run down ‘farmyard’ and new play area that most people don’t see past. With a wildlife garden, a nature club, a treetop walk and extensive woodlands home to deer, badgers, hares, squirrels, owls…Â

I’d love to say we experienced some of these natural wonders last weekend, but unfortunately we got lost. I’ll readily admit that we are not the best map readers, but I am convinced the signs were either unintentionally wrong, or part of some cryptic puzzle meant to enhance our visitor experience. On looking for the deer park we found ourselves in the middle of a golf course, lost on open moor land and knee deep in peat bogs. Which is fine if there are just 2 of you, not an entourage of children who won’t stand for any excuses as to why they are lost in the wilderness of outer Glasgow and still haven’t seen any deer.Â

They say when you go out hill walking you should be prepared with a map, compass, GPS watch… When you have kids you always need to prepare, even it seems when you’re only visiting the local park. Nappies, wipes, water, biscuits, a change of clothing and some sturdy shoulders to carry them home on. A trustworthy map/sign would be good to.Â

Still, it was an adventure, we seen lots of things we wouldn’t ordinarily of seen, we had a full day out and enough exercise to ensure a good nights sleep. And we still have to go back and find the deer.Â

True to form it rained in what should have been high summer in Edinburgh. Of course that didn’t stop visitors flocking to the festival that takes over Scotlands captial for most of August.Â

LookOutScout! had it’s first ever outdoor stand, which felt a bit like camping at times, complete with thermos flask and blankets. I’m sure we were at risk of blowing away when the weather was at it’s worst but it all added to the experience!Â

Thanks to all who braved the weather to visit us and a special thank you to the little helpers who really brought our wildlife collection to life (see photo). Â

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We’ve bought a new tent, a very huge tent! My sister refers to it as the circus tent, because its immensity borderlines the ridiculous. It takes up 2 pitches, has 4 bedrooms, a porch and a living room that could sit the entire residents of an old peoples home.Â

The beauty is, thanks to colour coded poles, it only takes 45 minutes to put up, even with the meddlesome interference of 3 young children. The problem is fitting the 5 of us, our very huge tent, it’s contents, our food and the kids ‘things’ into the car. Everything is strapped to the roof, crammed in the boot, under our feet and piled on our laps. Everybody breathes in so we can close the doors and when they’re opened again everyone falls out.Â

I can’t even begin to quantify the kid’s excitement.