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Join professional forager John Rensten exploring foraged food and first aid and discovering some of the capital’s common wild foods and medicines. This will be a wild food foraging walk but leaning towards which plants can be specifically used for first aid.
John has spent the last 25 years exploring the history and modern use of wild plants and will equip you with safe and practical knowledge gleaned through first-hand experience.
As well as what you can eat, you will learn how to find all manner of plant based first aids from improvised plasters to a ‘cure’ for stinging nettle stings, wild cough mixtures, antiseptics, poultices and much more.
Expect a morning of touching, sniffing, rubbing, and chewing rather than a static workshop. There will be a few tasters as we walk, made from different foraged wild ingredients previously picked and prepared, and discussion touching on numerous topics including nutrition, medicine, herbalism, botany, cookery, ethnobotany, and history.
You might be interested to read my blog – 8 ways I’ve recently used herbal medicine
Forage London and Beyond runs foraging courses and a regular wild food walk across London’s green spaces, mushroom hunting in the woodlands of Hampshire and The New Forest and seashore and seaweed foraging along Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. Past London locations include… Crystal Palace Park, Finsbury Park, Victoria Park, Hampstead Heath, Walthamstow Marshes, Sion Park, Wimbledon Common, Wandsworth Common, Battersea Park, Waterlow Park, Holland Park, Ravenscourt Park, Highgate woods & Alexandra Palace.
Guided by very experienced foragers, we explore these beautiful locations, learning to identify wild edibles plants, mushrooms, trees and shrubs. Perfect for both beginners and seasoned foragers, our sessions focus on sustainable practices, simple plant identification and seasonal foraging. Foraging engages us with the landscape and this in turn nurtures a tangible and practical ways for city dwellers to connect with nature and practice environmental stewardship. Whether you’re looking to enhance your culinary skills or simply enjoy the outdoors and get more from your local urban green spaces, our foraging walks provide a fun and educational experience for everyone.
John Renstens (Forage Londons founder and author) book can be purchased here.
