Why I can't (just) lead a Wild Food Walk anymore

When I led my first wild food walk back in 2007, I was so excited to share the knowledge I'd learnt from scanning the hedgerows near where I lived. I attended courses on wildflowers and walked daily, often returning home with a posy of plants to identify. Back in my kitchen, I'd eagerly look them up in foraging and plant books I'd borrowed from my library, and found that, oh so many of them had an edible or medicinal use.
I was just so keen to learn and share. I thought foraging was amazing! I still do. Everywhere I looked I'd see edible weeds; on the side of the motorway, growing next bins, through the cracks in the pavement, out of walls, on the beach, in-between 'planted' plants and of course in hedgerows and fields. They ended up in my soups, salads, desserts and teas.



I became plant-centric, and wanted to help others to experience this world with me, to befriend weeds as the allies they are. Again and again I'd hear;
'I'll never look at a hedgerow in the same way again.'
Every time I would smile both inside and out, feeling I'd done my job well, enough. I'd weave in themes of joy and care, talking passionately about the plants that take care of us. A wild food walk was a celebration; - opening our eyes and senses to what is already there.

What has changed
Almost twenty years later, and so much has changed. The world has quickened, computers dominate our lives even more and we're still struggling to connect our own actions with world problems.
We've become more aware of climate change and our impact on the environment, yet still our carbon footprint increases. Cars have got bigger (and being sold through images of nature), more green spaces are being replaced with buildings. Weed killer is still being bought, sold and used, with its bold, colourful claims in plastic bottles. Then there's the fashion of gravelling and paving areas to make them neat and easy to use, smothering more areas and stopping beautiful plants thriving.

I get it. I live in this culture too, and am driven by 'what I want when I want it'. And foraging is no different. Foraging is now seen as 'cool', and not just plant picking nerds. Yes- that's how it was when I starting teaching foraging! And we want it, that wild, outdoor experience, need that nature connection and those amazing, nutritious, seasonal flavours. Chefs want wild foods too, TV shows want it, restaurant guests want it, festivals, foodie events, even your neighbour has heard about it, the list goes on.
But the fact is, we don't have enough trees, plants and marine algae to absorb the CO2 that we are creating. Something has to change, ideally, a lot needs to change and it starts with you and I. We can do this together.

I can't lead a wild food walk in the same way anymore
We need help.
Clearly knowing about climate change isn't enough. It has led to some better actions, but not enough. I started thinking about what more I can do, how can I help people join the dots, feel motivated to take action, and more importantly, taking action together:
- How can I take what I've learnt from nature and foraging and use this to help make a better world?
- How can nature guide us to do life better?
- How can I be part of the solution?

A new kind of wild food walk
Our culture here in the UK is built on exploiting people and places over hundreds of years and so many of our foraging tactics can follow the same pattern. We take what we want, not thinking about what we leave behind.
Wild food comes in the form of; weeds, ground cover, invasive plants, perennial and annual plants. These all have important functions of bringing more nutrients to our soil, helping keeping moisture in, stabilising the ground under our feet (literally) and sinking our CO2. All vital functions for a healthy planet earth.
Having areas where 'weeds' can live, mature and spread also provides living environments for micro-organisms, insects, birds and mammals, plus all our sea creatures. And all these parts of our ecosystem are currently struggling. Our ancestors would have known this intimately; that every part of nature in connected and impacts each other.

What I can offer you
I now feel I'd be doing you a disservice if I just taught you about edible wild plants. How can I introduce these wild foods without sharing with you their growing environment? What they need to thrive and how they need your help?
And we need their help too. Desperately. So, yes, I can take you on a wild food walk, but not without introducing you to the ways that these plants are intimately engaged in our welfare and that of our planet. By offering suggestions of ways of giving back to nature, which quite literally, gives us our every breath. I can offer you this; a more joined up approach of people, plants and our future together. And an opportunity to be even more inspired and appreciative of this earth we live on. To be a real caretaker on this land.