Our Head of Communities, Penny Sturgess tells us all about foraging. From hazelnuts, brambles and wild strawberries, to dozens of different types of mushrooms, forget your trip to the supermarket and get foraging.

Top tips for foraging

1. Bring some hard wearing gloves to protect your hands.

2. Go in a pair, for double the fun. That way one of you can collect the booty and the other can hold the basket.  

3. Try new things, you might like it, but read point 4 first!

4. Make sure you can identify what you are foraging, if you're not sure, it might not be good for you!

5. Get chatting to people who live and work near you to find the best spots.

The environmental benefits

The potential carbon savings are huge.  Be gone the energy sapping greenhouses, transportation and storage facilities!  And with no pesticides, fertilisers or packaging - what could be more organic?

The health benefits

You can’t beat fresh produce for nutritional value.  A good walk is brilliant exercise and foraging makes it more fun and interesting.  Being outside is also great for the mind - no need to suffer from nature deficit disorder even in the middle of a city.

So get foraging and prepare to be filled with the wonderment and abundance of your local environemnt. 

Is foraging legal?

It's a bit of a grey area but if you're not foraging fruits for commercial use and you're not on private land, then it's OK.

The fruits of an evening's forage

After reading our top tips we're sure you can't wait to get started. Read more as Penny Sturgess, our Head of Communities, takes us on a foraging journey outside urban and bustling London to discover all the seasonal delights to be had in Tottenham Marshes.

2 boxes of blackberries - This time I took a pair of garden shears to cut back the thorns and reach those juicy berries at the back.  The park keeper will be pleased with me as I’m helping him to maintain his marshes in the process.

1 bag of pears – I’m not a tree climber but my partner is so I held the basket while he climbed.  Passers by were intrigued and not wanting to miss out on all the fun, did the same!

1 bag of plums – mmm, crumble.

1 large bag of sloe berries – These are in abundance at the moment but are terrible to eat, however, they make great sloe gin.  I shall make my first attempt at making sloe gin this year and will have a lovely tipple in time for Christmas. 

I also spied several apple and crab apple trees for future foraging.  Crab apple jelly may be a bit advanced for me (!) but they’re there.

Foraging farther afield

Earlier this year I picked cherries in Newcastle and wild garlic next to a river in Bristol and when I was in Spain a few years ago, mountain climbing, I picked wild sage and rosemary and used it in my camping cooking.  

First it was going out, then staying in, NOW it's foraging. 

Thanks to Penny, we are all rather excited to get foraging and see what we can find. 

If you have any foraging tips contact us and we'll feature the best ones here.

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