Foraging in Spring

Our baskets can be easily filled with Spring greens at the moment,  young leaves of Dandelion , Sorrel & Garlic Mustard are some of my favourites, Cleavers (sticky weed) are fresh and nutrient dense, add them to your water bottle and after a little steep your water will taste delicious, but more so, they are a great for our lymphatic systems, a powerful detoxifier and anti inflammatory. Primrose flowers are one of my most treasured flowers each year, they are edible, delicate and sweet and it just gives me a bit of joy and ritual to pick them and make my bowl of porridge look much nicer in the morning! A lovely way to decorate a spring cake too!

Why Forage

Firstly, it is so rewarding to be able to identify and then eat wild food, the act of walking, slowly searching for plants, being out in daylight and moving the body, drops us into presence and the more you forage and learn the more your eyes open up, a walk in the woods becomes much more exciting! Secondly, wild food is abundant and free and good for us! Some spring greens are bitter, more so to our tastebuds that are accustomed to sweet things unlike our ancestors, but give them a chance, learn to cook with them and you might learn to love them. So much research has shown the benefit of bitter foods for digestive enzymes, saliva production and therefore healthy gut and optimisation of our meals. The Microbes found in wild food are extremely beneficial to our gut microbiome.  Of course there is the added benefit of these foods being locally sourced not being wrapped in plastic or sprayed and polluted ( if not too close to a busy roadside)

Two Kings of Spring 

– Wild Garlic and Nettle. If you love wild garlic like me, you will find carpets of it in Lambourn woods, it is just going over now but the little buds on the flowers can also be eaten ( I store them in jars with vinegar and use as I would capers! Nettle is my number one powerhouse wild plant, not only is it full of antioxidants, vitamins, ( more iron than spinach per gram) it is such a versatile plant, I’ve been learning how nettles can be used as natural cordage, for clothing and for dying clothes, its also a lovely mediative practice to sit and weave a nettle chord! Of course you just need to be wary of the sting, there is a way of plucking up from the underside of the leaves which means  you mostly don’t get stung – it also takes your full attention, so again, a mediative practice.

 Plantain for Hayfever Sufferers - Plantain is in abundance and I have heard many stories of it being a miracle cure – simply pick a good handful of leaves and steep in hot water for at least a few hours.

Importantly, if you are foraging you must know what you are picking, there are plenty of experts and guides and books and it's good to stick with the easily identifiable if you are a beginner. Following the foraging laws to make sure you aren’t taking too much from the land, taking a small amount from each plant and patch so there is enough left for the bids and bees and for the plant to regenerate next year. An act of reciprocity, take only what you need, plants like to give and usually thrive even more the next year when they’ve been responsibly picked.