Here are my three tips for simple foraging.
I was always slightly apprehensive about foraging with children, in terms of being confident enough to identify plants correctly and know what they could safely eat and what they couldn’t. Sounds obvious but foraging is quite a skill and responsibility when you have children with you who you are modelling good choices to. Generally speaking, I think as adults we spend a lot of time telling children never to eat anything from the garden or the woods that they have found. It must seem confusing to children to then positively encourage them to eat specific plants grown in the wild during foraging sessions.
As a rule of thumb it may be good to say that we would never eat anything that we can’t accurately identify as edible because some plants can make us poorly and some can be poisonous to us so always good to know. Again, this sounds obvious but all too often you can slip into ‘don’t touch anything’ ‘be careful’ ‘you will end up in hospital’ all of which only serve to increase children’s anxiety around eating wild food, when actually if you know the risks you can stay safe and enjoy finding foraging treasures.
I have not yet met a child who doesn’t love finding and collecting stuff. Our little baskets were used every day in the Summer by children collecting blackberries. Some children asked every day to do the same activity; collecting blackberries in a basket, with a friend, washing them in a colander and eating them…great!
I am no expert but am happy to share the knowledge I do have with you so that the next time you go out for a walk you can maybe find and try some foraging treats…. Hmmm I use treats loosely; I think the treat is in the finding and having a taste but everyone is different.
Tip 1 - Nettles
You can eat nettle leaves, make nettle tea and eat the seeds. Nettles are a superfood for you, they contain iron, vitamin C and 22% protein! They are also great for showing children the nettle trick if you are feeling brave. Very young nettle leaves that grow at the top of the plant don’t sting you because they haven’t yet developed the tiny stinging hairs yet. Always great to perform ‘the magic nettle picking trick’ for children but also then explained is great for their own learning. You can also fold this young leaf up and eat it for an extra round of applause. The seeds are long and hang down underneath the leaves, they look a bit like a catkin but not as tightly packed with seeds. You can also eat these.
Tip 2 - Blackberries
Always a favourite with children and this time of year you may still find a few although it is right at the end of the season. You can find them on brambles which people view as a real pain because they trip you up and can cause really nasty scratches but they do also provide beautiful blackberries. They are also great for wildlife and offer food and shelter to birds. Make sure they have turned deep purple which tells you they are ripe as opposed to green. They are really easy for children to find and pick. They are also great for dyeing, you can either boil them up in some water with your fabric or do what the children did this summer at Holiday Camp and smashed them up inside some white fabric. They looked great!
Tip 3 - Burdock leaf hats
These are the giant green frilly leaves that I always think look like rhubarb. They are also used traditionally to make Dandelion and Burdock drinks. Pick a nice big leaf and remove the stalk. The two parts of the leaf at the bottom that are either side of the stalk fold in and on top of each other to make the hat shape. Hold these in place by using the stalk like a hair pin making a hole through both leaves into the centre of the hat and back out through both leaves again. Like a simple running stitch. Then wear your fabulous Imp, Pixie, Elf or Peter Pan hat for all to see. You may not be feeling the full pixie vibe but the kids will love it!
My final piece of advice is to always choose plants that are well away from the path or high up where our four legged friends haven’t had a wee wee!
Happy foraging!
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Have a lovely weekend.
