Wild Food Foraging with Olwyn

Have you ever wondered what foods our ancestors may have eaten before the advent of agriculture and supermarkets? 

Or what we might eat when the apocalypse sets in? 

Come and learn about the wild foods that grow in your garden, the hedgerows and the cracks in the pavements. 

Over the weekend, we will begin to break down the 'green wall', learning the basic botany skills needed to identify individual plants species and families. We will delve into the myriad ways that you can use these plants in the kitchen and explore the realities of seasonal eating and food as medicine. If you are a gardener, you might find that some of your most vilified weeds are actually highly nutritious foods – your weeding might become harvesting for your dinner plate. 

The mornings will be spent outdoors meeting the plants where they grow, and in the afternoons we will make some food goodies with freshly foraged plants for you to take home. These practical sessions will introduce you to a range of food processing and preservation techniques. You will also leave with lots of recipe ideas and easy ways to incorporate these plants into your daily food habits. 

Depending on the plants in season on the weekend, we will make or sample a selection of the following 

* a herb butter 

* herb salt or sprinkle 

* a wild pesto/green salsa 

* infused honey 

* infused vinegar 

* hot and cold infusions (aka herbal tea or tisane) 

* decoctions 

* gomasio 

* wild infused dark chocolate 

* a cold pickle 

* jams/sweet preserves 

* herbal tonics 

* kombucha 

* wild salad 

* lacto-fermented veg 

There will also be space for conversation about the importance of connecting with local landscapes via our food choices and how foraging actively embeds us in an ecosystem. 

Course tutor: Olwyn Williams 

Materials charge: €15 Waterproof boots and outdoor rain-gear recommended. Light lunch included to value of €7.50

 Please note our cancellation policy; we require minimum 7 days notice before the event for a full refund to be paid