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Foraging Courses

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One of the best ways to get to know the wild plants around you is to go on a foraging course. There are some great companies running engaging courses, including: 

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• Totally Wild runs some highly engaging courses, which includes cooking a meal at the end of it. I have been on two courses myself and it would probably be my first choice to book on another one. Courses run around the country. They also have some great info on identifying and using wild plants on their website.

• Forage London - Offers courses in London and beyond with a range of course guides including experts - I went on a course with qualified herbalists which was fascinating.

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Plant ID 

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• Harrap's wild flowers - The only way to be truly 100% about a plant is to check a field guide to wild flowers. I find this one easy to use as it has large-ish pictures
   

Foraging books 

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• Forage: Wild Plants to gather and eat, by Liz Knight - This is a beautifully illustrated book which I think would be helfpul for beginners as it has clear diagrams and a similar format is used for all the plants covered which I find quite easy to navigate. 

• The Foragers Handbook: A guide to the edible plants of Britain, by Miles Irving - I think this may have the most broad ranging anthology of edible foods that I've seen. The photos are in black and white and different amount of detail is provided on each plant, but it is mega useful if you just want to check quickly if something is edible and what it can be used for.

• Foraging: Pocket Guide, Marlow Renton & Eric Biggane  - I like this book as it has a clear format with one page per plant and with clear photos to help with identification. 

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Plant profile books

• Weeds: The beauty and uses of 50 vagabond plants, by Gareth Richards - I really love this book. Not only is it beautifully illustrated but it covers a whole range of wild plants and not just the edible ones that you find in foraging books. 

• "Folk magic and healing: an unusual history of everyday plants", by Fez Inkwright. I love the cultural / folk history focus of this book which gives a different perspective to some of the other books I have.
   

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Herbal Medicine ​

• The Handmade Apothecary: Healing Herbal Remedies,by Vicky Chown and Kim Walker. A great introduction to herbal medicines with great explanations on how to collect, dry and prepare herbs (infusions, decoctions, tinctures, herbal vinegars and honeys. Profiles for key herbs with some recipes to try as well.

• Edible and medicinal plants of Britain and Europe, Robin Harford - a useful collection of facts on a lot of key wild plants, including nutritional info. No pictures (though you can download an ebook of pictures) - but I'd say it's more useful if you are familiar with the plants and just want to quickly look up some of the benefits.

• Intuitive Herbalism, by Nathaniel Hughes and Fiona Owen - a completely different approach to herbalism that focuses on building relationships with the plants as a way to navigate trauma and holistic healing. A short but very insightful read.

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General 

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Read

• Sapiens: A brief history of mankind, by Yuval Noah Harari - not a book about wild plants per se, but it is the book that I credit with sparking my interest in foraging. Despite having studied History at university, I had never really spent much time considering prehistoric man and how for most of humanity's history we gathered to survive. It also covers the impact of wheat and farming on the way we live. It's worth reading to put mankind's relationship with nature and plants (and animals) in context.​

• Wilding: The return of nature to a British Farm, by Isabella Tree, This book has been nothing short of revolutionary in terms of changing how I think of the countryside. In my gut I always knew that wild flowers and wilderness was good, but I had never really considered just how much man has dominated the countryside and the impact on biodiversity. I really think this should be a must read for everyone.

• The Wilderness Cure, by Mo Wilde, a really interesting book written by a medical herbalist who decided to live on only foraged foods for a year. I'm not going to lie, it sounds like a lot of work with a lot of planning, and didn't really tempt me to give it a go! However - it was a fascinating read, not only for the experience, but also for Mo's critique of consumerism and capitalist society which was what prompted her project in the first place, starting her year on Black Friday.

• The hidden life of trees, Peter Wohlleben -  This was a gift from my sister in law, and a beautiful gift too. The photos of trees are absolutely stunning. What's more, the content has genuinely changed the way I look at trees, as cooperative relational beings.

• Gossip from the forest, by Sara Maitland - A fascinating exploration on how our forests and fairy tails are entwined, along with some great insights on the history of forests in the UK.

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Listen

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• Worldwild podcast: ​Professional Forager Miles Irving supplies many top end restaurants with foraging supplies. He has many interesting conversations with guests about the importance of developing a relationship with the wild, and also has the view that humans are part of the wild and should interact with it rather than being kept apart and leaving the wild 'to just be' without us. I tend to agree. I particularly enjoyed his conversation with Lucy O'Hagan on rites of passage which had some interesting concepts about belonging and spirituality too.

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Watch

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• A life on our planet, by David Attenborough - A really fascinating film where Sir David recounts his own experience of seeing wild spaces decline in his own lifetime - passionately making the case that to reverse climate change we need to free up more land for wilderness.