WILD BLOSSOM BLOG
My personal journey with Wild Food
I (Tom) have been learning about and exploring wild food for over 15 years now. Like most people I didn’t grow up with this knowledge, it wasn’t passed down by my parents or grandparents.
I spent some time in Canada as a teenager. Out there I met so many people who seemed to have this amazing knowledge and confidence to go out and harvest berries, mushrooms and plants. It seemed so normal and natural to them. I was inspired!
When I got home I was walking through my local woods and it dawned on me that I had no idea what species of trees were around, not to mention the plants and fungi. I decided to teach myself. I started taking ID books with me everywhere, keeping a nature journal, reading books, taking courses and generally becoming very curious about everything I was seeing out on my walks ( it was impossible to walk anywhere with me!).
Tree by tree, plant by plant I started to become more familiar with my surroundings and how everything is connected.
The great thing is that Nature is so abundant and so intricately interwoven there will never be an end to this learning, always something new to learn, endless natural mysteries to discover.
After a few years I noticed there was a growing sense of familiarity, something I hadn’t felt before. I felt much more at home in my surroundings, so many trees, plants and fungi had become like friends I could recognise at a distance. By Foraging I also began to see and learn the ways in which I could protect and preserve these species by foraging ethically, always only taking what I needed and making sure to harvest in a sensitive way. Promoting regrowth and renewal.
Just as we are more likely to put ourselves out on the line and make sacrifices for those we know and love I began to make quite significant changes in my life in order to live by a new found set of values. Environmental stewardship and responsibility has become a real consideration in the day to day choices I make.
It has been said that climate change is, at least in part, a crisis of education. Reflecting on my own journey I can see this to be true. Imagine a world where children grow up with a deep knowledge of their landscape, an understanding of their interdependence and the complex interconnected relationships at play. Would they grow up with a different set of values? Would they effortlessly and naturally make the important and radical changes that are currently needed to preserve life on earth? Would they be happier and healthier? These are interesting questions to explore.
I would love to share some of what I have learnt with you so if you're interested in learning more about wild food check to see what events are coming up in the calendar.
Wild Blossom Blog
