Safe Foraging with Mini Foragers

I have met a few people who have said that they have never foraged and wouldn’t know where to start. Although, without realising I am sure they have picked blackberries at some point, therefore foraging-everyone at some point has foraged! Some people are reluctant to forage as they feel it is too dangerous, but although there can be risks there are some rules we can put in place to make foraging safe.

My older children have always foraged blackberries, sloes and crap apples with us over the years. It became a wholesome activity for us to do as a family, a reason to be outdoors and develop some resilience to the cold weather. They became more interested in the outdoors and nature and most importantly to them, they always had something to eat with free food!

My main interest in foraging began whilst completing my Forest School training, where we touched upon the basics of discovery into what plants we could source from the environment for free. I couldn’t (and still can’t) help myself looking for something when ever I step outdoors after this, it became a bit of an addiction! At first I was foraging for foods we could eat such as berries, plants and nuts, and then this developed into foraging for herbs such as wild garlic where I then decided to grow my own herb garden. This expanded further where my fascination developed into foraging for the herbs with medicinal benefits, learning in depth about them, their uses, contraindications and what we can do to make the most of their benefits e.g. medicines, foods. I have recently signed up to a Foundation Herbal Medicine course with Heartwood Education to expand on my knowledge further in order to feel more confident with herbal medicine, I hope to eventually follow on with the professional course to become a Medicinal Herbalist.

Alongside my interest in medicinal herbs, I have also become fascinated with Mycology-the study of fungi. I have studied where to forage for them, suitable environments and best weather conditions and I’m gradually beginning to recognise particular fungi through close study and carefully checked identification. I have been quite surprised at how much more information is needed to be gathered from the fungi other than simply looking at them to decide what they are, it is definitely not as straight forward as I initially thought! I am now able to successfully identify some fungi and been confident enough to even eat them but as always please do your own research and always use more than one type of ID checker, some plant ID apps and books may be incorrect or out of date.

More recently, my 2 year old son has become a little forager. We were able to pick blackberries with him this year whilst he walked beside us. He watched attentively and took a few blackberries off us before noticing them for himself on the bushes and began to pick and eat with our careful eye overseeing each pick of berry. We watched him attentively and spoke to him showing him how some berries were different to the blackberries. After a while, we watched carefully how he was able to find the blackberries himself between the other berries and not once did he choose the wrong berry. I have been quite amazed how he has even found Rowan Berries in our garden and has never put them in his mouth, but this does not mean I ever take my eye off him in these situations, just in case. I do believe from teaching him a few basic instructions even at his young age has instilled these basic understanding of safe foraging ‘rules.’ Below I have explained a few of my simple foraging instructions/rules you can use with your own ‘mini foragers.’

1. Only forage plants with children that you are 100% sure that you can identify

2. Ensure you explain to your children that some plants and fungi are poisonous

3. Explain to your child that they must not put anything into their mouths without checking with you first

4. Make sure things foraged are from a safe environment e.g. not low down near the ground where dogs pass by or near busy roads due to pollution

5. Only pick what is needed, leave some for the wildlife

6. Talk to them about what you have found, what they look like and possibly its name

7. As an adult know what to do in an emergency

8. Have fun!