Thanks to all Hospitalfield the for invitation and welcome to yesterday’s Beer & Berries Festival …. and also to Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Hildegard, von Linne and Grannie for their contributions over the years.

Common melilot - displayed at Monks and Medicinals Hospitalfield one of several legumes appearing in the wild LF garden post-lockdown (lightly nodulating) : once tried as a forage in Scotland and known from antiquity for healing properties TRUE Project

DIARY21 LivingField2020 continuing through to end December, a forwards and backwards diary beginning June: to give global context to the local state of climate, food security, biodiversity, cataclysms, human resilience. See it at livingfield.co.uk/diary21/

Insanely in love? Want out? Betony’s4U Hospitalfield. Hildegard’s (1098-1179) remedy (based on Throop trans): place leaves in each nostril, under the tongue, in each hand, under each foot … then fix your eyes on the betony until the leaves grow hot… livingfield.co.uk/medicinal/medi…

And here’s another example of Jean Duncan’s art Jean Duncan - maize root X section on maize husk paper from maize plants grown at the Living Field James Hutton Institute Paula Pongrac Paula Pongrac LivingField2020

Very topical - congratulations to SEDA Land for airing this complex and potentially contentious issue

See Ruth Black’s “Ancient and Modern: techniques with wool in textile art” - spinning, dyeing, weaving, felting, embroidery, laser cutting - influence of Pictish design at livingfield.co.uk/craft/ancient-…

David brown has worked as a farrier, shoeing horses, across Scotland, for years, then to the delight of family and friends, turned his hand to creative metalwork. See how he does it at livingfield.co.uk/craft/creative…

War brings to world attention the complexity of supply chains for food crops and meat. Gross output (shown for wheat) is a major factor but production per person determines what’s spare for export. Western Europe has sufficiency. More at livingfield.co.uk/climate/food-s…

The Living Field’s long term artist friend Jean Duncan Jean Duncan has been experimenting with inks made from oak galls. See how she does it at livingfield.co.uk/art/jean-dunca…

More inks by Jean Duncan, here trying out the range of colours from blending inks from oak gall (the black colour) and orzo ‘coffee’. Orzo’s an Italian speciality made from roasted barley grain.

Great day of Foraging Walks at Kinloss Abbey, Moray kinlossabbey.org Sat 14 May: Anna Canning led foraging for medicinal plants in the abbey grounds Anna Floramedica: incl celandines and dandelions, docks, daisies and deadly nightshade; from monks to modern medicine.

Record drought, heat, fire in Europe make this year unprecedented, but eastern Scotland was no drier than previous dry years (1976, 1984, 1995, 2003, 2018). Fortunate maybe - but there’s a global duty to care for this cropland. Our analysis at livingfield.co.uk/climate/2022-s…

With the Living Field garden no longer operating, the Editor was missing the annual display of ancient grains, so grew his own from saved seed. Such architectural splendour in these cereals - bere barley, emmer, black oat, rye, spratt barley. What’s like them today.

Latest on the Living Field web: introduction to Kathryn Owen’s exploration of Pictish Beasts, her paintings of the beast carved on stone, locations throughout Scotland’s croplands livingfield.co.uk/art/pictish-be…

The Society for Ecological Restoration Europe (SERE) chapter.ser.org/europe/ is upping its successful recruitment drive, now with emph on students and young people (a career in restoration!). Check the SERE web for career guides and opportunities #500EERs YOUNG#ER

More on the Society for Ecological Restoration Europe (SERE)’s YOUNG#ER recruitment drive. Links on the Living Field livingfield.co.uk/restoration/ec…. Heal the planet. Be part of the UN decade 2021-2030 #GenerationRestoration @unbiodiversity

Great day at Bioregioning Tayside meeting last Friday. Big Q: Can the landscape feed the people? We can start by defining what the land is doing now, then work out what it could do. Here, different land uses in an area are identified: next steps are trickier #ClimateTayside23