foraging course

[gazh]

Hi guys, i was wondering if any of you have had any experience of the wild food courses that are becoming increasingly popular? and if anyone could recommend one in the northwest of england.
Im as bad as most people on here for foraging around and have found plenty of fruit trees but i want to be more sure of myself and also find some walnut trees etc.

i live in rossendale, east lancashire. Which is a valley with plenty of wildlife and trees to choose from so im sure im missing a lot of potential food around me!!

any help would be appreciated
cheers Gaz

[valmarg]

In a word, no.

I'd love to gp on a 'fungi forage' with that chap on the Hugh Fearslessly-Eatsitall River Cottage telly programme.

In this area we have plenty of brambles for blackberries. We also have loads of damson trees in the hedgerows (damson gin being rather tasty). Up in the Weaver Hills there are bilberries (which blueberries are tending to replace).

valmarg

[gazh]

well thats rather depressing lol
well i'll keep looking, cheers for the reply :-)

[Potstubsdustbins]

I just googled learn to forage for wild food, loads of info there that might help.

Colin

[BroadRipple]

Gazh, can't help am afraid but there are lots of good books eg WILD FOOD by Roger Phillips and one of the River Cottage series which looks great.
[while i'm on the subject, anyone else driven mad by Hugh F-W? Ugh]
BTW though I went on a London one and it was...bit rubbish. Learned how to identify chickweed, er, thanks. If anyone knows a good one here too I'd love to know.

[chris]

I bought the food for free book, by richard mabey - Collins Gem - Food For Free: Amazon.co.uk: Richard Mabey: Books (this is the link to the pocket sized edition - really useful as it's small enough to go in normal pockets ). It's good, the latest revision has photos in it for better identification, and it's made me realise that on my usual trip around the place there's loads of edible things around me. For just over three quid, it's a worthwhile purchase to get started.

[gazh]

hey, cheers for the advice, i think that self taught with books will have to be the way forward.
yesterday i ordered: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Edi...ecc_rvi_cart_1
and i might order the ones that you suggested chrismarks and broadripple
went dog walking today and found a new apple tree :-)

[gazh]

found this one: Taste the Wild - One Day Foraging Course
looks really good but a bit pricey for 2 of us for the weekend

[chris]

well, £60 per person.. I'd bet you'd make that back in a year once you know what's out there and you can / can not eat

I've had well over £100 worth of free apples, pears, plums and damsons this year.. I missed out on blackberries this year, and my ones at home were munched by my chickens, but last year we had loads of blackberries that we picked, going on shop pricing I'd estimate at least £20 worth.

[lettucegrow!]

I struggle with paying for a course to tell you what is growing and there for the taking. A good book is all you need, otherwise it defeats the object, doesn't it?

[gazh]

well im going to get a couple of good books, but the idea of the course is a bit exciting :-)
they are booked up untill next year, so if im not confident by then, i'll give it a go.

im just about to collect the local plums but im still angry at the morons that chopped down the 40ft pear tree that i used to visit every year and get a wheel barrow full of them :-( havent found another.

[endymion]

Hi guys, i was wondering if any of you have had any experience of the wild food courses that are becoming increasingly popular? and if anyone could recommend one in the northwest of england.

I can't help with your area, sorry, but maybe there are the same sort of things as they do near us. None of them cost more than a couple of pounds, nothing like as much as the £60 for a special day's course, and obviously don't include all the cookery extras either.

The Council, Forestry Commission, New Forest District Council and the Park Authority have put together a list of activities, which include "Edible and Medicinal Plant Walk" that's this coming week (31/08/2011).

The Forestry Commission have walks called "Wild Foods of the Forest" on 12th and 18th October 2011.

There are more walks listed on the Park Authority website here

Our WIldlife Trust does 'events' too, always very cheap.

Perhaps there are the same sort of thing in your area?

Wrt fungi - most counties have a 'Fungus Group' or a 'Fungus Recording Group' that has walks (forays) each month or every couple of weeks. The Hants one says that "non-members are welcome"

[gazh]

thanks endymion, i'll look it up after work.... the fungus stuff does scare me a bit but as i live in an extremely wet part of the country (in a valley within the pennines) we have a lot of shroome everywhere!! i really hope i didnt miss them all :-)

[shobhna]

Eat Weeds There is this website. It might be worth a look.

Some years ago the Vegetarian Society ran a Fungus Foray course and I did a weekend course with them. It was really good.

[gazh]

i think lancashire is just missing anything and everything - lol looked at all the links, forestry commission are doing nothing here and theres no fungus courses or groups nearby - in a few years maybe i will start one :-)
thanks for the replies