Waxcaps are familiar-shaped fungi that are often brightly-coloured with a waxy or slippery-looking cap we’re going to take a closer look at them in this introduction to waxcap mushrooms piece. The botanical name for this family is Hygrocybe meaning ‘watery head’. They are typically found in grasslands that are poor…
Category: Foraging
The relationship between and fungi is a truly complex one, through this piece we’ll just scratch the surface. When people think of fungi they often see them as destructive, appearing on stale bread, rotting fruit and vegetables and killing trees. But many fungi are actually beneficial to plants and trees,…
Most of us have largely forgotten the wild edibles and medicines that can be found around us like the health benefits of rosehips and instead we rely on supermarkets and pharmacies to meet these needs. Rosehips however are something we’ve never really turned our backs on, we have an almost…
Let’s talk about the Secret of the Carrot Family, The Wild carrot or Apiaceae or Umbelliferae family is one that all foragers need to be familiar with. It’s one of the largest families in nature with over 3,700 species world wide and around 100 that can be found in the…
Well, you’ve arrived at this blog, so you’re open to the suggestion that there may be Mental Health Benefits of Foraging First off, lets get rid of the Thief of Time that is procrastination. Procrastination One way to beat the procrastination thief is to think of it as just one…
Seaweeds are a huge resource that tends to be ignored in the UK, there could be lots of Health Benefits of Eating Seaweeds, very few are harvested for food although this is starting to improve. I think that as a country we are quite similar to the Japanese i.e. a…
When we’re running our foraging courses one of the questions we are often asked is “Is foraging legal?”. One of our major roles as foragers is to teach people about the law and the responsibility surrounding gathering wild ingredients. As foraging gets more and more popular it’s even more important…
We often wonder what is liver fluke? One of the hazards when foraging for any aquatic or semi aquatic plant for example Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga) is something called Liver Fluke. It’s mentioned in a few of our ID guides so I thought that it would be…
Through this piece we’re going to take a look at what is foraging – to different people, in different times, and in different parts of the world it has many different meanings & practical uses; let’s take a closer look. forage /ˈfɒrɪdʒ/ verb gerund or present participle: foraging (of a…
Honeysuckle / Summer / Edible Honeysuckle is one of those plants we’ve seen a thousand times in gardens and parks but did you know it’s edible? Through this piece we’ll be taking a deep dive into identification and edibility. Common Names Honeysuckle, Common Honeysuckle, European Honeysuckle, Woodbine Botanical Name Lonicera…