Introduction to Foraging Course, Northallerton

Children under 12 come free. Well-behaved dogs on a lead are also more than welcome.

We will take a 2.5 hour walk (covering about two miles) around the countryside of a private farm estate, stopping regularly to discuss (and where possible, eat!) the many edible goodies we find along the way, whether that be plants, flowers, fruits, nuts or mushrooms! What we’ll find depends on the time of year. The route is mostly flat and we’ll go at a steady pace.

Although the main focus will be foraging from the perspective of wild food, we will also touch upon what can be foraged for non-food uses, such as medicinal purposes, or "bushcraft" uses like finding a natural plaster in the wild or making your own string!

This course will cover the best ways to start and progress through the early stages of your foraging journey, in order to best maximise your learning and development, and will include:

• Finding and discussing over 20 species common across the UK that have food, medicinal and/or bushcraft purposes.
• How to identify the plants, flowers, fruits, nuts and mushrooms we come across.
• Foraging laws and principles to ensure you forage safely and responsibly.
• Information about poisonous species to avoid, and how to forage in a way that will ensure you always stay safe.

Foraging is fun, fascinating and fruitful (literally!) and when done properly, you have nothing to fear. It’s important to realise however that foraging can be dangerous IF you approach it with recklessness and without the respect nature deserves. My course will aim to show you exactly how foraging is fun, fascinating and fruitful so that you can get your foraging journey off to the most enjoyable start, but also how to ensure you forage in a way that keeps you safe.

The course perhaps obviously has foraging at its heart, but will also aim to immerse you in nature in general. It's a chance to log off from digital distractions and the modern world, and log in to the rejuvenating power of nature. There are few better ways to connect to nature than through foraging.

A few days before the course, I will email you with all the details you will require including the exact meeting point on the farm. Regardless of our exact meeting point, there will be parking available.

Host or Publisher The Forager Within