All about foraging

Like birds fly south for winter, we, too, have a genetic memory. As a child, it’s likely you and I both picked and made potions from plants, ate flowers, and knew the exact location of all the neighbourhood fruit trees, and when the fruit was perfectly ripe for picking each season. As we age, we lose touch with that, we are conditioned into a certain distrust of wild food “is that ok to eat?” and even with fungi in Australia, “don’t touch that” are things we grow up hearing, these messages fill our ears and drown out our instinctual, intrinsic, generational wisdoms and our ability to trust in the world around us as being highly nourishing and supportive of life itself. Did you know it’s said by many a wise woman that the “weeds” that grow in close proximity to you are there to fill your unique nutrient deficiency and to give back to soil composition and correct ph. When you start to notice the little things; a dandelion growing between the cracks, a mushroom peeping out from the edge of a path, a deep joy is alight within us as humans there is a sense of knowing your place in the world, and the order of things around you and this beautiful perception of having a spiritual or ecodelic experience in nature.

foraged kumquats, elderflowers, and edible flowers

Foraging involves and evolves in you an almost extra sensory foraging perception (ESFP). Foraging, after all, is a game of pattern recognition. Children are magnificent at it. You begin to see food everywhere, swerving in the car for Fieldes, stopping to pick elderberries hanging over a suburban fence. ESFP is real, and it’s literally what you were meant to be doing. The effect on your physiology is that of a huge dopamine hit. I - cross my heart and hope to die - can tell you that finding edible wild fungi you've been hunting for years is better than drugs! These really wonderful concepts become present in your life, and call you present as you spend time outside and being active you begin to observe and interact with nature and notice things in your ‘patch’ change, come to bud, flower, and fruit. Noticing the abundant lives that nature sustains, with convenient, nutrient rich superfoods at your fingertips, in your backyard, and hanging over fences begging to be used and eaten. These marginal areas, council gardens, verges, roadsides, along creeks and fence lines, along public pathways, in parks and playgrounds become valued in a new way. They become valued as food collection areas and areas to play and explore, finding new foraging ground becomes a game of hide and seek. The loveliest thing happens when you enter a space of infinite learning, things start at the simplest level; you didn’t know a tomato was a tomato until you were told repeatedly, ‘that is a tomato, it is food’ until you recognised a tomato on your own as a food. It is the same process as beginning your wild food journey and integrating foraging into your daily life.

Foraging in Australia is gaining popularity, and more people are curious about wild foods as the push to be self sufficient widens in our society. Foraging on private property with permission, with the promised return of jams and cordials, opens many a farm gate or neighbourhood door, don’t be afraid to ask, I’ve found that most people will be excited that you’d like to collect fruit from their over-laden tree. Foraging in National parks is illegal in Australia, and if you are concerned with the legality of collection from state land, please enquire with your local government about bylaws and regulations in your own area. Items like seaweeds are often treated with a separate set of rules for example, in NSW, it is legal to collect any seaweed from the beach as long as it isn't attached to any surface. In Australia, any overhanging branches or fruit over the fence line is up for grabs by the cheeky unrepentant urban forager. Environmental concerns can also be a consideration with foraging, for example, if foraging watercress or blue lotus, be aware of your water source; a spring feed damn will have less contaminates and run off from industrialized farming practices. Sides of the road and other areas can often be sprayed with herbicides, take notice and watch your patches and spots.

Foraging ethics should be taken into consideration, firstly I always like to keep in mind and express a certain sense of gratitude and acknowledgement of receiving and of treading lightly on country. This could be as simple as a small ritual for touching the ground to the tip of your hat. In respect of the land and the animals and others, we live and forage by the rule, take only what you need, and this may look different for everyone, some have many mouths to feed or perhaps are collecting for the elders of their community and keeping alive the food traditions of their cultures picking preserving and sharing. Which leads to the idea of not ‘pick shaming’ others. We cannot know how much is enough for others and how they intend to use food. Tread lightly and leave no trace, nobody wants to see their patch decimated and trashed. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Biodiversity and conservation of rare or unnamed species is an important consideration. We can be real contributors to furthering our understanding of funga and flora as citizen scientists, but we also hold a special responsibility to protect our native species from weedy invaders. As edible weeds advocate, I love to teach people how to #eattheweeds. We can contribute to regeneration, by eating environmental weeds, we can sustain ourselves and help the environment at the same time. Finally, and of utmost importance, is the rule “ if in doubt, leave it out” correct and proper identification of plants and fungi is at times tricky, and if there is any chance that you are not sure, the rule comes into effect. Familiarize yourself with the species that are likely to grow around you, their look alike’s, and defining features. Seek confirmation of your own identification before proceeding, this can be done through the wonderful resource available on Facebook “forage and grow new south wales” group, or others like it where Australian experts on foraging plants and fungi are at the ready to offer ID and support your wild food journey. Growing your book collection is a wonderful resource to come to in times of confusion starting out with Cribb’s “Wild Food in Australia” books will give you a firm foundation to build from.

One thing you'll often hear me saying is “Every outing is a foraging outing,” and as such, one should be ready at any time to harvest, capture, or collect. For this purpose, I keep a “Foraging Kit” on me and in the car at all times, and these tools of the trade, so to speak, have come to hold a special place in my heart as a Forager. I’m never without one of my trusty knives or baskets these days. You never know when you'll need it, and it's come in handy for many a spontaneous harvest. I Like to keep the car stocked with a variety of items, Brown paper bags, a plastic container, a basket, gumboots, secateurs, strong scissors, and a folding knife or two. Being a mushroom hunter means that knives are of particular importance, and one builds a certain symbiosis with their mushrooming knife, it becomes almost an extension of the hand itself. One of the finest mushroom hunting knives is the gorgeous Opinel no 9 chanterelle knife. With its sleek wooden handle, brush, and curved folding blade, it definitely is my favorite knife. But my Winchester shouldn’t go without mention either.

So, with all this info about foraging up your sleeve, I just bet you can't wait to get out there and start foraging away. Perhaps I'll see you in the bush or on the side of the road, and we will give each other that knowing nod. That meeting of the eyes that connects us as foragers and a wild food tribe. For information on what's in season to forage and ideas for uses and my wild food recipes, follow me @the_foragers_plate on Instagram or see my other blog posts, or become part of the F & G family online with the “Forage and grow New South Wales” community group.

Foraging Forever x

Chanterelle

Smoked eel Roulade recipe