The Other Andy Hamilton: Recent Episodes
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First published in 2015 Thujone is a known poison and the FDA (in the states) have restricted it’s use, but is this an overreaction, why
Towards the end of 2024 I started to get ill, a lot. Flu, covid and every single cough and cold that was going around. Then
I set this site up over a decade ago, a time when I was heavily involved in the beer world: I gave talks, brewed beer,
Eating Heracleum sphondylium or common hogweed Hogweed can be eaten in many ways. The simplest is to pick some of the seeds, which cling onto
I’ve two wild food foraging events in Bristol this Spring, a celebration for the publication of my first National Trust book – The First Time
Chances are you have had thousands of chemesthetic responses, you just didn't know what they were called
... the next mistake was how it was served, I poured it from a half filled two litre green plastic bottle.
Have you heard of the 10,000 hours hypothesis? It was first proposed by music theorist Anders Ericsson in the 1980s; the simplified and popularized interpretation
The Other Andy Hamilton
When a tree gets old we might marvel at its beauty, some of us (me) might even travel for miles just to be near this
The Other Andy Hamilton
Quit smoking, but start again when you are drunk. It will change your life
The Other Andy Hamilton
Does it look like a plum stone? Oval shaped, quite hard as it it's made of solid wood.
The Other Andy Hamilton
Making your own buckfast is pretty easy – here is a younger version of me illustrating how to make it. I’ve had to age restrict
The Other Andy Hamilton
If there ever was a sight to signify the long heady days of summer it would be the Elder in full bloom. The bright clusters of white flowers are a familiar sight across Europe (and beyond). The scent always takes me back to a perfect spring and a time when
The Other Andy Hamilton
I've always advocated drilling to get your sap... this might not be the healthiest for the tree.
The Other Andy Hamilton
There is no other plant that separates foragers from gardeners more than Japanese knotweed. This -- the number one most invasive plant in the world
The Other Andy Hamilton
The smell that might cheer you up, or make you sneeze We humans can detect linalool at rates as low as one part per million and as it is abundant throughout nature – I’m sure you have smelt it. Naturally speaking it is mainly found in the Laciaceae or mint
The Other Andy Hamilton
Recipes – Chickweed and pea soup – Chickweed sushi I realised recently that Chickweed aka Stellaria media L. was my first plant love. I’d long forgotten the memory of it until a recent interview. I was asked where my love of plants began. Somewhere lodged deep in my mind was
The Other Andy Hamilton
Paths that have been inaccessible to wellyless feet are starting to open up again as the ground freezes over. Yesterday, I took a walk through a small wooded patch of mixed broad leafed trees including Lime, Oak and Beech between my office and my home. The sky was blue, the
The Other Andy Hamilton
the fruit of the blackthorn prunus spinosa for sloe gin etc Before you can make your sloe gin, sloe wine or any sloe based wild drink then really you have to know how to id sloes berries. The below video will help. Thankfully, sloes are plentiful in the UK, and across some of Northern Europe and as
The Other Andy Hamilton
Galium verum Lady’s Bedstraw is a low scrambling plant native to Europe and Asia. It is most at home on chalk downs, grasslands, heathland and coastal areas. Its bright yellow flowers are in abundance throughout the summer and start to tail off when the leaves begin falling from the trees.
The Other Andy Hamilton
I've been foraging in Bristol since around 2006 when I first arrived in the city. Over that time I have searched almost every green corner for wild food and drink ingredients; further educating myself with each trip across the city.
The Other Andy Hamilton
Every forager I have met has one main warning, Don't pick unless you are 100% sure of what you are picking. What I am describing here in this post is that statement in action.
The Other Andy Hamilton
Mugwort – part two – how to take and did it alter my mind? In an earlier post I spoke about mugwort and how it helped me with anxiety, how I could interact with my dreams and how they helped me reconnect with a friend. If you haven’t read mugwort
The Other Andy Hamilton
Mugwort is officially the foragers favourite wild plant but why? It's anti anxiety, used in brewing and can aid lucid dreaming. Some even thing it can help you predict the future.
The Other Andy Hamilton
Some time ago I got interested in plant intelligence, but a question has been troubling me ever since; if plants have memory and show intelligence where do they store their intelligence, after all, they don’t have a brain? When studying the behaviour of bacteria and the wood wide web, I started
The Other Andy Hamilton
For more recipes including an elderflower champagne recipe plus more problem solving have a look at my book, Booze for free. If you are put off by all the problems you might have making this, then perhaps you might want to try making Elderflower Liquor and an Elderflower Tom Collins or have
The Other Andy Hamilton
Ever smelt a whiff of lemon in a wood? Just a hint, sitting in the air? That’s the chemical terpene limonene that mushrooms use to farm bacteria, but it works on us too. It raises our spirits, makes us calmer, as it helps us release various neurochemicals.
The Other Andy Hamilton
On a more practical level, it means that you should never beat yourself up in the early part of your career. You can’t hope to be as good as those you aspire to be straight away, it will take time.
The Other Andy Hamilton
Andy Hamilton has been authoring since 2008 - here is a selection of his work.
The Other Andy Hamilton
Last year, I gave up an addiction and it’s one that many share – I quit social media. Why quit? There are many reasons to give up this beast, ethical, moral reasons and financial reasons; but mostly it just felt like an addiction and it wasn’t serving me well. The
The Other Andy Hamilton
My seven year old son can't get enough fermented Ketchup, his best friend Lucas loves lacto fermented orange juice and the addictive and many of my friends loved the slightly boozy pomegranate seeds and sourdough pizza.
The Other Andy Hamilton
"...and I heard that there were these things called supermarkets that sold food from all over the world”
“You could, you could. But don't think it was all magical, they thought themselves separate from nature back then”
“I don’t understand Mum. What did they think made up their bones, what did they think made the air we breathe”
The Other Andy Hamilton
Last week I felt so angry, helpless and anxious that I found myself sobbing. The day before I shouted at an estate agent from my window, and the day before that I felt like we were going to enter utopia after all this is over. The truth was, the horror
The Other Andy Hamilton