Foraging Fortnight: Health & Wellbeing

FORAGING IN SCOTLAND Health & Wellbeing 01

WILD CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES

CONTENTS E X P E R I E N C I N G N AT U R E | 0 3 H E A LT H B E N E F I T S

| 04

A DEEPER CONNECTION | 06

NUTRITIONAL DIVERSITY

| 07

FO R A G I N G FO R N AT U R E ’ S S A K E | 0 8 G E T T I N G S TA RT E D | 0 9 S A F E T Y A N D S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y | 1 2 RESOURCES

| 14

H E A LT H A N D W E L L B E I N G – T H E J O Y S O F F O R A G I N G 02

E X P E R I E N C I N G N AT U R E Bramble-stained fingers, baskets of chanterelles, bubbly elderberry champagne and a bunch of marsh samphire in a sizzling pot on an open fire…

Foraging is about harvesting wild food, creating delicious recipes, fun with friends, or peaceful solitary time in nature inviting us to delve deeper into the awe-inspiring natural environment, learning to care for it, and enjoying a greater sense of health and wellbeing.

The practice of bushcraft [and foraging] shows many unexpected results. The five senses are sharpened and consequently the joy of being alive is greater RICHARD GRAVES, AUTHOR AND SECOND WORLD WAR VETERAN (1950)

Modern living sees the production of our food by other humans, often living far away from us, in unfamiliar landscapes. We no longer experience the subtle, exquisite flavours of perfectly ripe fruit, picked straight from a tree or the floral aromas of wild rose petals in our food or drink.

We no longer notice the moons’ cycles and the opportunities that a full moon offers for putting food on the table. When there is a ‘mast year’ producing a bumper harvest, we are too busy on our screens to notice nature’s offering and a nourishing meal enriched with the smells and tastes of wild food.

Foraging transports us to an uncomplicated place. It nurtures greater understanding of our coasts, woodlands and meadows, teaching us how to care for our precious natural heritage.

03

H E A LT H B E N E F I T S After a day behind the computer, to switch off the phone, grab my willow basket, pull on my wellies and head out foraging. I return home with something much more valuable than a basket of berries, I have returned often a better version of myself I FORAGER, SCOTLAND

WHO and Imperial College London research reports a ten-fold increase in worldwide obesity in 5 - 19 year olds since 1975. By 2020, there could be more obese young people globally, than those malnourished and underweight. A sedentary lifestyle and poor diet are known causes.

Mind UK states that 1 in 4 adults in the UK experience mental health challenges such as depression and PTSD yearly. In 2019 suicide figures in Scotland increased by 15% from 2018.

How can foraging help?

Being outdoors enhances our sense of health and wellbeing.

Studies from Japan say that just 15 minutes in nature lowers the stress hormone, cortisol, by 16%, blood pressure by 2%, and heart rate by 4%. Research from King’s College London has shown that time in nature, amongst trees, seeing the sky and noticing the natural world around us, including hearing bird song, were also 04

associated with higher levels of mental wellbeing. This time outside was shown to be particularly beneficial for those who are at greater risk of mental health challenges.

Time spent in nature increases a sense of wellbeing in a multitude of ways. Memory can improve, a sense of isolation decreases. The immune system is boosted. Stress, anxiety and depression reduces.

It’s not about simply ‘taking’ from nature.

Foraging encourages us to interact with our landscapes and reminds us we are a part of nature. All plants have fascinating stories.

Learning them has completely changed my view of the landscape and my place within it JOSHUA QUICK, FORAGER AT WILD ST IVES

I

JUNIPER

AN IMMATURE CEP OR PENNY BUN

ETHNOBOTANY CLASS- LOOKING AT HEATHERS

Instead of the bleep of the barcode and the rustle of plastic, you can gather your food to the sounds of twigs cracking beneath your feet and, if you are lucky, the song of a blackbird or thrush overhead I JENNIE MARTIN, ETHNOBOTANIST, SCOTLAND

OFF ON A FORAGING ADVENTURE

05

A DEEPER CONNECTION … finding a patch of wild strawberries still touches me with a sensation of surprise, a feeling of unworthiness and gratitude for the generosity and kindness that comes with an unexpected gift all wrapped in red and green. “Really? For me? Oh, you shouldn’t have.” After fifty years they still raise the question of how to respond to their generosity. Sometimes it feels like a silly question with a very simple answer: eat them I BOTANIST AND AUTHOR ROBIN WALL KIMMERER: AN EXCERPT FROM HER BOOK BRAIDING SWEETGRASS

Gathering wild food is so much more than ‘free’ food for the pot.

A sense of belonging to something greater than oneself, or the commercially driven world we live in, is often the more significant outcome of being outdoors.

FORAGING BLACKBERRIES

FORAGING BLACKBERRIES

Wild foraging offers a sense of belonging to place, the land whose rocks, soil, bacteria, fungi etc have created the right circumstances for that juicy raspberry to grow, or prize giving cep (porcini mushroom) to rise up from the ground. It revives lost traditions, enhances social connections and a deeper relationship with nature.

… foraging is the traditional, mindfulness practice of engaging with seasonality, of taking notice and sensing the natural environment as an extension of ourselves I LAUREN LOCHRIE, HERBAL HOMESTEAD, SCOTLAND

06

NUTRITIONAL DIVERSITY Modern humans eat between 17 and 30 of the potential 30,000 edible plant species on the planet (of which there are approximately 7000 edible species in the UK). We use just 0.01% of the available edible plants for 90% of our diets and just three plants, wheat, rice and maize make up 60% of calories consumed.

MARSH SAMPHIRE

HAWTHORN HAW

Foraging can bring greater diversity to our diets and to our palate, as well as potentially greater nutrition through the increased phytonutrients present in uncultivated plants.

A wild plant called purslane has 6 times more vitamin E than spinach and 14 times more omega-3 fatty acids. It has seven times more beta carotene than carrots. Most native plants are also higher in protein and fibre and much lower in sugar than the ones we have devised I JO ROBINSON: EATING ON THE WILD SIDE: THE MISSING LINK TO OPTIMUM HEALTH

PINK PURSLANE

07

COPPER BUTTERFLY

F O R A G I N G F O R N AT U R E ’ S S A K E “Plant biodiversity has been drastically reduced over much of the ‘industrialized’ world. Most land is in urban areas and intensive agriculture. ‘Nature’ has been set apart from production and sequestered on a site-by-site, species-by-species basis in parks and ‘reserves’ (Tilzey 2000).

The 2019 State of Nature Report (Hayhow et al., 2019, p.6) states that “the abundance and distribution of the UK’s species has, on average’, declined since 1970 and many metrics suggest this decline has continued in the most recent decade”.

41% of UK species studied have declined since 1970 Becoming nature literate By taking time to stop and stare, learning about the animals and plants around us and foraging sustainably, evidence suggests that we are more likely to care for the natural world. Many foragers report that they often bring home more plastic rubbish than wild food.

Stimulating plant growth – foraging can even help plants grow In the horticultural world it is well known that if a plant is stressed it will often respond by growing more vigorously. As a result, when foragers harvest wisely, they can stimulate additional growth, which enhances the potential of future foraging, and helps continued generations of each plant thus benefiting other creatures that rely on it too.

08

I

The first thing to understand about travel in this environment is that the forest can be your friend; it can supply you with almost everything you need for life if you learn where and how to look. The second thing is that you can be a friend to the forest; if you consider carefully the consequences of your actions, you can learn to harvest resources without causing any harm, sometimes even assisting the natural process of forest growth. I RAY MEARS, AUTHOR AND BUSHCRAFT SURVIVAL EXPERT

G E T T I N G S TA R T E D Nettles

Brambles

Easy to identify and best harvested by taking the top four leaves of the plant in spring (they will often re-grow again that season so you can keep having fresh nettles throughout the summer.) Use for soup, tea, pesto, in stir fries. You can even have them raw as a superfood ‘Hit’ if you scrunch them up super tight, squashing the prickles so you won’t get stung and popping this in your mouth for a nettle shot! If Popeye was a forager, he definitely would have got his super strength from nettles rather than spinach as this wild food is packed with botanical goodness!

Brambles are high in vitamin C and allegedly have more fibre than wholemeal bread. Fruit leathers can be made by mixing brambles with hawthorn haws (with the pip taken out). Jams, wine and vinegars are other uses of this favourite berry of the forager. The fresh, young leaves can also be used to make a tea.

Rose hips During the second world war, girl guides and scouts in the UK were sent out to the woods to collect rose hips to supplement people’s diet. Rose hips are very high in vitamin C when fresh. After the fine hairs inside the hip are taken out (as they are an irritant), the hips can be used to make a tea, soup, syrup and even face creams. *(please see SSC code before starting any foraging)

BRAMBLES

09

Pine needles

Dock leaves

A good wild food to collect as the foliage is usually off the ground therefore of no risk of foot fouling or dog poo. They are also evergreen, so the leaves available all year. The needles make a lovely tea, or you can use them fresh as a seasoning, as you might rosemary. Make sure your needles come off the twig in pairs or threes or 5’s. If they come of as single needles you might be looking at a Yew tree which is very poisonous and must be left well alone.

According to Robin Harford of eatweeds.co.uk curly dock and broad-leaved dock contain more vitamin C than oranges and more vitamin A than carrots, they also contain vitamins B1 and B2, and iron. Try using the young leaves like spinach and the young stems as a substitute for rhubarb (dock is in fact in the same botanical family as rhubarb). The seeds can also be boiled and added to gravies or bread.

Dandelions

Acorns were a staple food of our ancestors; however, proper processing is required to take out the tannins that are in high concentration in this plant.

For the forager dandelions are a treasure trove of culinary opportunities. The flowers can be simply sprinkled on to a salad, or the whole flower head dipped in a batter and fried. The roots roasted make a delicious ‘coffee type’ drink and the leaves can be put in a salad or cooked as a spring green.

Dandelion is known as a ‘spring tonic’ due to its bitter flavour, and, of course, the fact that we start seeing it coming to leaf in early spring.

10

Acorns

Boil the acorns several times to leach out the tannins (discarding the water each time) and then the remaining acorn can be dried and ground into a flour or added to soups and stews as is.

The leaves of the oak have also been known to make a tasty white wine.

Elder

Garlic mustard

The flowers of this tree can be used for a host of delicious recipes, the most popular of which is often a wonderfully fragrant cordial or champagne.

This spring flowering plant is in the same botanical family as broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts. It is a delicious addition to salads, or in stews, as it departs a garlic/mustard flavouring (hence its name).

In the autumn, the flowers turn into purple/black berries that can be made into a delicious syrup or, once cooked, can be put into a pie.

Please take care with properly identifying this tree as the white flower heads look somewhat like the flowering heads of some herbaceous plants that are very toxic, such as hemlock. The leaves and stems of elder are also poisonous and raw elderberries can make some people sick, so make sure to cook your berries before eating them.

The seeds can be used as a substitute for shop bought mustard seeds and the root is known for its’ hot/wasabi like flavour.

When harvesting roots, it is important to make sure the root (or bulb) you are searching for is still attached to the plant above the ground. This way you can be certain it is from the plant you want to eat rather than a root broken off from other plants growing in the same area that could be toxic.

Elder is known to be a very magical tree, not just because it gives us such a delicious wild food but also because the branches make a powerful wand, or at least Albus Dumbledore of Harry Potter fame, thought so anyway!

The real magic of foraging comes from the deep connection with the natural world that it fosters: an intimacy with fellow species and special places, reconnecting us to our place within ecosystems in profound, joyful and deeply nourishing ways. I MARK WILLIAMS, GALLOWAY WILD FOODS

11

S A F E T Y A N D S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y Sustainability

Safety - surroundings

When harvesting wild food, remember that humans aren’t the only animals that forage, our fur and feathered friends such as squirrels and pine martens are dependent on wild foods. They can’t go to the supermarket to get their weekly shop!

Know the surroundings you are foraging in and avoid harvesting plants and fungi that are growing:

Top tips for sustainable foraging:

• Harvest only common plants (remembering that your plant

maybe locally abundant but nationally rare so check a few resources before you pick). See back of this leaflet for resources.

Pick only for the pot i.e. for yourself and a friend. If you are • wanting to pick commercially, you will need to contact the landowner for permission and possibly get a licence.

• Practice ‘Gorilla Gardening’ and replant as you go! This means ` if you are picking berries or seeds, why not get a stick, make a small hole in the ground and plant a couple of berries or seeds at the site you are taking from. This way you are helping the next generation of that plant grow.

• Don’t pick rare or endangered plants – even if they’re in your wild food book. Remember, some plants can be locally abundant but nationally rare.

12

• Near traffic or footpaths where wild food could have picked up

pollutants or animal droppings (think dogs!).

• In fields where waste from cattle or other livestock can pose an e-coli risk.

• In fields where farmers have just sprayed herbicides or pesticides.

• Foot fouling. Be aware that you or your friends may have dog poo on the bottom of their shoes and just walked over the patch of wild food you are just about to pick.

If • you are foraging water plants, always cook them – the risk of Liver Fluke and other water-borne illnesses is high in the UK. Do a taste test first There may be chemicals or compounds in foraged foods that are known to have an adverse reaction in some people (even if you have identified the plant correctly and followed the S.S.C code).

Therefore, try only a small amount of any wild food first and leave it a day or two to see if you have an adverse reaction before you have a feast.

Certainty - have correctly identified your plant and can you eat it?

There aren’t many poisonous wild plants in the UK compared to the number of edible varieties, HOWEVER, that does not mean that there aren’t any.

The UK is host to some very poisonous species of plants and mushrooms.

Taking time to correctly identify your plant before you are going to eat it is essential. How do you know there isn’t a similar looking plant that is toxic?

There are many books and websites dedicated to wild food identification and uses. Depending on the resource you are using it is a good idea to cross reference your findings with a few different reliable sources. Please note that due to the occasional variations in appearance (which can be due to age of plant, environment it is growing in, across different regions or countries) a photo or illustration can often differ slightly from how a plant or mushroom appears in real life.

Foraging offers one of the most direct, rewarding routes towards restoring humans as part of nature, rather than apart from nature.

Foragers develop deeply intimate relationships with the locations and species that nourish them. This quickly seeps into a spiritual connection with that place, that species, that ecosystem. I MARK WILLIAMS, GALLOWAY WILD FOODS, SCOTLAND

Legalities

• It’s illegal to dig up a plant without permission.

• Species must not be picked from a National Nature Reserve (NNR) or Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) without permission.

• If picking commercially, permission from the landowner is needed and possibly a permit obtained.

• Check local byelaws for variations in legal status of foraging.

JUNIPER

13

RESOURCES Identifying plants

• • • • • •

Botanical Society of the British Isles: www.botanicalkeys.co.uk/flora/ Richard Maybe: Wildflowers of Britain David Streeter: Collins Wildflower Guide Frances Rose: The Wildflower Key www.plantlife.org.uk/uk Rare species are protected by law: Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland

Wild food books and other resources

• Richard Maybe: Food for Free • Miles Irving: The Forager Handbook • Roger Phillips: Wild Food: A Complete Guide for Foragers • Plants for a Future: www.pfaf.org • John Wright: The Forager’s Calendar • www.gallowaywildfoods.com • monicawilde.com/ • Many other teachers of foraging and ethics/law can be find at: • foragers-association.org/ Bibliography

• Benefits of a biodiversity-focussed outdoor learning program for primary school • •

children: Deborah J. Harvey, Louise N. Montgomery, Hannah Harvey, Felix Hall, Alan C. Gange, Dawn Watling R. Louv: Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder Medical empirical research on forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku): a systematic review

014

• House of Commons Briefing paper Number 3336, 6 August 2019 Obesity Statistics • George J. Armelagos: Brain Evolution, the Determinates of Food Choice, and the Omnivore’s Dilemma

Munir Ozturk Khalid Rehman Hakeem Muhammad Ashraf Muhammad Sajid • Aqeel Ahmad: Global Perspectives on Underutilized Crops • Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health. by. Jo Robinson.

• Artemis P Simopoulos: Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Antioxidants in Edible Wild Plants • www.mind.org.uk/ • Marla Emery, Suzanne Martin and Alison Dyke: Wild Harvests from Scottish Woodlands • www.wildstives.co.uk/ • Patricia Louise Howard: Women and the Plant World. An Exploration • EKF Chan: Human origins in a southern African palaeo-wetland and first migrations • Seeds of Life: www.fao.org/3/x0262e/x0262e02.htm • Kai P. Voss-Fels1, Andreas Stahl2and Lee T. Hickey: Q&A: modern crop breeding for future food security • Lisa Fenton: ’Bushcraft’ and ‘Indigenous Knowledge’: transformations of a concept in the modern world

Bum • Jin Park et all: The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the •

forest atmosphere or forest bathing): evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan King’s College London: Exposure to trees, the sky and birdsong in cities

@foragingfortnight/ /foragingfortnight/ @ForagingF www.foragingfortnight.co.uk

Text ©Jennie Martin Photos ©Jennie Martin and ©Nikki Kenn Design by Arken Creative

015

This toolkit was produced using Scottish Government and EU LEADER programme funds with support from NatureScot, as part of Foraging Fortnight.

The project encourages you to enjoy Scotland’s rural landscape through responsible foraging and adherence to the Outdoor Access Code.

Scottish Rural Development Programme