@hedgerow_healing: 🫐 Bilberries! 🫐 Okay yes I forgot to bring an actual bag to put the berries in and had to make do with an old coffee pouch that was randomly in the bag...But it actually worked quite well! Although it did limit me to how much I could gather today 😂 We are approaching the first of the harvest festivals Lughnasadh. A time when the sun has noticably waned and fruits are ripening across the country. Bilberries are coming out all over the UK, and it is always a race to get to the best spots before the birds and other small mammals nibble them all up! They ripen around the same time of Lughnasadh, and are a renowned wild food, now known as a superfood due to their health benefits 🫐 Gaelic communities anticipated the harvest season and celebrated with numerous festivals, including bilberry sunday. There are a few versions of this festival around the UK, and they are usually used as an excuse for young people to court each other and find true love, yet they centre around one main topic - the harvest and the abundance of the land. 💜 . . . . . #bilberries #wildwood #wildfood #gaelic #lughnasadh #celticbritain #celticfestival #celticfolklore #folktradition #nordicfolklore #Nordic #folklore #irishfolklore #harvestfestival #harvestseason #berryharvest #wildcooking #hedgewitch #paganbritain #foraging #herbalism #gaelicfolklore #hedgerowhealing #theancientways