Foraging is more than gathering wild food. It’s an intimate practice that helps build a stronger relationship with the natural world.
Are you a beginner forager worried about making a deadly mistake? Or do you want to increase your knowledge of local edible plants and herbs?
Learn how to gather wild foods and medicines sustainably, within the law, and with good practice. Find out more by clicking on Foraging course in Dorset.
Spring
The spring season is a wonderful time to explore your local outdoor spaces and learn about edible weeds, flowers, and herbs. Taking a Foraging course can help you become a confident, independent forager and reconnect with the land. Whether you’re making a salad from wild greens or a pot of nourishing nettle soup, you will enjoy new and ancient flavours while also benefiting from the fact that your foraged foods are free of pesticides and chemicals.
You can start by learning about wild foods with Miles Irving — he’s been a foraging pioneer and has worked with some of the world’s top chefs (Heston Blumenthal, Magnus Nilsson, and Rene Redzepi). This online Foraging course covers everything from the basics to advanced topics.
The course includes videos, worksheets and self-quizzes, a scavenger hunt, and discussion forums to support your learning. You’ll also receive a Foraging Pocket Guide and a Forager’s Record Book to help you keep track of your adventures and botanicals.
Summer
Foraging is an essential skill to master, allowing you to create soul-soothing and immune-boosting recipes with wild plant-based foods from your own backyard. It is also a fun and productive way to spend time outdoors, connect with nature and engage the mind, body, and spirit in a new way.
For beginners and those with some experience, this course will teach you the essentials of foraging and mushroom identification. It covers important considerations when foraging such as ecology and sustainability, specific safety concerns for certain plants, harvesting techniques and tips, and herbal preparation instructions.
A third of the Medicine Making course is already included in this Foraging course, so you will have a solid foundation for your foraging journey! Having both courses will allow you to identify more wild plants and build your apothecary with wild-crafted herbal medicines.
Autumn
Autumn can be one of the most magical times to discover wild foods as it is abundant in berries, nuts and seeds. From the tart and tangy sloes for gin to sweet blackberries for jam, there is something for everyone!
During Module 1, “The Seasonal Plants” you will learn basic foraging skills, safety considerations, ethics and sustainability, and plant identification. You will also gain a practical working knowledge of plant taxonomy and botany that will help to speed up the ID process and give you confidence in foraging safely and sustainably.
Foraging is a rewarding and sustainable skill that can be used to feed yourself, your family, or even your community. Many people turn their passion into a profitable career, supplying restaurants or selling foraged goods online. Others find it is a great way to connect with nature, and reduce their reliance on unsustainable agricultural practices. Foraging can also be a wonderful way to get outdoors with friends or colleagues, and make new connections in the natural world.
Winter
Foraging is a great recreational hobby that can be enjoyed year-round. Foraging skills can be applied to a variety of activities, including making your own natural dyes or creating herbal medicine. Some foragers even turn their passion into a career by supplying top restaurants or running a side hustle selling foraged goods.
While winter is not typically considered a good time for foraging, the right approach can yield an array of delicious ingredients. For example, a clump of dried rabbit brush or a handful of lacy wildflower seed pods might seem like mundane additions to a tablescape, but when placed together, they can take on a life of their own.
For those interested in learning to harvest seasonal edibles and herbs, CourseHorse offers a range of in-person and online classes. For instance, Foraging for Health and Immunity will teach students to create soul-soothing, immune-boosting recipes and fill their apothecary shelves with hand-harvested botanicals. Other offerings include Marvelous Mints, which covers the 6000+ species of mint beyond peppermint and lavender.
