Once again, I have been terribly negligent of my little blog. Here I am, better late than never I say, with lots to catch you up on!
Back in April (I know, I know) I went on a great adventure. A long train journey to Yorkshire, strapped into my camping gear and heavily laden with lots of warm layers, I was ready for a weekend of camping, foraging and cooking. The whole thing sounded like so much fun that I didn't mind the cold even a bit!
Almost a year before, I had signed up for a wild food foraging course when my mother back in Canada mentioned some cool folks teaching foraging courses just outside of Harrogate. The cool folks I'm talking about are Chris and Rose of Taste the Wild. They offer a great selection of foody courses throughout the year. A combination of years of foraging experience, loads of cooking skill and a great vision made Taste the Wild even better than I expected it to be.
A little group of us camped in the tee pees that were set up just next to an amazing outdoor kitchen. Composting loos, a big bonfire every night and all the tea we could drink made me feel like I wasn't roughing it at all! My hair did form rather large dreads by the second day...suppose that's as close as I came to roughing it.
We spent our days wandering around the beautiful surrounding woodland, in search of the first edible growth of spring. Then, trug-fulls of fresh green things were hauled back to the kitchen and the cooking began! Turns out that Chris is was a professional chef in London for rather a long time, so the yummy food just kept on coming.
A little group of us camped in the tee pees that were set up just next to an amazing outdoor kitchen. Composting loos, a big bonfire every night and all the tea we could drink made me feel like I wasn't roughing it at all! My hair did form rather large dreads by the second day...suppose that's as close as I came to roughing it.
We spent our days wandering around the beautiful surrounding woodland, in search of the first edible growth of spring. Then, trug-fulls of fresh green things were hauled back to the kitchen and the cooking began! Turns out that Chris is was a professional chef in London for rather a long time, so the yummy food just kept on coming.
Wood sorrel drop scones cooked over an open fire. Very fun, and very yum!
Wood Pigeon on the grill
Wood Avens Bread Sauce. We made a bouquet garnis with wood aven roots. They taste of clove,
amazing!
Wood Avens, freshly picked
Rose explaining preserving!
Making a Pine distillation in this lovely brass alembic. I want one just because it's so pretty, swear I won't start making moonshine!
There was a lot more great food that I ate up before I thought to take a pic, but you get the idea. I still am a novice, but I can see foraging becoming an addiction. Fresh, organic, local food is growing all around us all the time and we just call it a weed! How satisfying to use something that is already there! Since coming home, I've foraged lots of wood sorrel, wild strawberries, wild pea shoots and wood avens from my lane. I can pick leaves on my walk home from work and eat them for tea. Pretty dreamy!
I learned a few other useful bits and pieces on this foraging course, including how to skin a rabbit. Easy peasy, just ignore that grimace on my face!
It's a wild pea shoot. They taste JUST like peas, so great!
Chris, harvesting reedmace (i think that's what this was called). It looked like a giant leek, and we stuck it on pizzas. Huzzah!
If you ever get the chance, take a Taste the Wild course. I won't overwhelm you with any more pictures, but I will say that I had a great time, learned so much, and am so inspired to keep on foraging!
a handful on wild strawberries picked from my lane.
