Forage, Eat and Draw - One Day Workshop

A personal and creative introduction to Foraging. Foraging is the act of gathering wild food for free. One of the most enjoyable things about foraging is the way it gives us a greater awareness of our surroundings – prompting us to slow down, pause, look and connect with the ordinary everyday plenitude of nature that we might easily over look.

I have been Foraging for many years now and have been taught by some fabulous Foragers. One of the things I love about it is the way wild food is packed with so many vitamins and is such super-food. When I started Foraging, I did often feel overwhelmed by information and things to remember: all the different plants, how to distinguish from look alikes, what you can and can’t do with them, how to cook them and how to remember what they all look like, next time I am out walking. Lock-down was an opportunity to slow my foraging down, when out walking I started to identify one foragable a day and really get to know it.

In response to this I have created this hands-on, experiential and creative Foraging Day that aims to help you retain and remember what you learn because you have participated fully throughout the day and not just been fed information.

Forage

We will start with a short local railway walk in Leith and a look around my back garden to identify approximately 6-8 forgeable eats that you will regularly see out walking, or growing wild in your garden. You will have the opportunity to gather and bring your finds back to the studio.

Eat

We will have a simple vegetarian lunch together in the studio, which you can chose to participate in preparing, from the food we have foraged (including a few things I foraged and prepared earlier – yes, I did watch Blue Peter as a kid). I will share some of my favourite foraged recipes and by watching and participating in the food preparation, you will more easily remember what to make at home. Weather permitting, we can eat lunch en-plein air, or I have a spacious sit–in kitchen. You will be given recipes for everything we eat.

Draw

When I started Foraging, I used to struggle to recall exactly what the all things I was being shown, looked like, after the course. Drawing is about looking closely, so after lunch, it is playtime and you will be guided through some fun, process based drawing exercises, which will help you recognise what we have foraged, next time you are out walking. No previous drawing experience needed, this will be a playful way to learn to look closely. If you get a good drawing within this process, great, but the focus will be on the experience not the outcome.

Join me for a healthy, sociable, informative and creative day together

All materials, lunch, teas and coffees provided. You might like to bring a bottle of water, a pair of scissors and a paper bag to put your forages in.

Numbers: limited to 8 participants to allow for individual attention and lots of time to ask questions and enjoy each other’s company during the day

Jenny Smith is an artist and well-being Practioner, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a particular interest in our relationship with the natural world

Host or Publisher Jenny Smith