Advanced Survival and Operations in Extreme Environments A special ops training course ‘Advanced Survival and Operations in Extreme Environments’ facilitated by Circadio Limited. This course covers tactics used in three distinct habitats: forest, mountain and coastal-marine. We will also spend half a day covering urban species. These are three important and often critical environments in…
The Wilderness Cure
‘Foraging is one of the last wild acts of defiance against the concrete world. Humans versus humanoids. It’s a crack in the dam, a chink of light, wild food nourishes your very soul.’
Winter Root Harvest: Burdock
What have velcro, gobo, inulin and a man in disguise covered in seed heads got to do with my winter diet? I’m exploring the multiple uses of burdock, a highly underrated wild vegetable. Burdock (Arctium lappa, Compositae) is famed for having inspired George de Mestral, the inventor of Velcro, as its seed heads are covered…
Foraging in Winter
If you’ve recently got interested in foraging, or lockdown is getting to you, don’t wait for the Spring to start foraging. Here are some good reasons to get outside… With all the food available in the supermarkets, just what is the point of foraging? Well, I can think of quite a few: 1. The Pleasure…
Winter Root Harvest: Dandelion
Clocks, coffee, salads and the King’s scrofula. Dandelion roots are a winter staple and the whole plant has a surprising amount of uses. Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale, Compositae) need hardly any introduction with their puffball seed heads or clocks and their brilliant yellow flowers. They herald the Spring and provide a vital early pollinating source for…
Spring Surveys
The foraging season begins in early spring with birch sap, wild garlic, alexanders and cow parsley. As we get further into spring there is whole panoply of lush green shoots, fragrant flowers and the first mushrooms. Saint George’s mushroom is up for Saint George’s Day, 23rd April, and continues sometimes until June. Then comes the…
Hen of the Woods in the Nest… and Chips
This is a fabulous way to cook an amazing mushroom. It’s like a vegetarian chicken and chips. The taste is exquisite and the texture satisfying. My friend chef Carl Shillingford of The Foragers Retreat developed this after a mushroom foray that we did together. We were very hungry! The hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa)…