Foraging & Reciprocity: 2-day workshop (for adults)

About the course

On this two day course, we will walk the land and gather the wild berries, fruits, nuts and seeds gifted by nature in this season.  We will explore the ancestral uses of important tree foods, their medicinal benefits and how this active participation in the cycles of nature offers us the opportunity to be part of a reciprocal relationship.  We will learn how to gather from the plants with respect and honouring, through practical consideration and care, song and story.  You will learn to prepare and cook this harvest on the fire and how to sort and store seeds for planting. 

These days lead into the following optional workshop ‘Forests from Seed’ and is open to all interested adults; it will particularly support those working with children in nature education.  We recommend participating in both the foraging and forest from seed workshops.

Who is this course suitable for?

• This workshop is for adults and will support those working with children in outdoor education such as Forest School facilitators.

The course will cover

• Provide practical skills to correctly identify key local plants and trees that provide food and medicines
• Learn how to gather plants with safety, care and respect
• Learn ancestral and modern techniques to process the plants 
• Provide practical knowledge for conservation and propagation of the plants
• Understanding the risks and benefits of foraging 
• Building a sense of belonging to the land through connecting with the plants through the seasons
• Cultivate life long relationships with the plants and trees in our local areas

With gratitude to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting this course.

About the tutors

Anna Richardson: Anna has been a nature mentor and trained forest school leader for over 20 years, working with children of all ages and mentoring adults in plant lore, foraging, nature connection and bushcraft. The 8 Shields deeply informs Anna’s work and approach.  She is passionate about connecting to nature through creativity and reverence for life and is also a forest school trainer through Circle of Life Rediscovery and has co-authored two books : Learning with Nature and The Children’s Forest and am the founder of the Children’s Forest.

Lucinda Warner: Lucinda is a medicinal Herbalist, naturopath and nature lover. She loves to spend time on the Downs with the plants that grow there and can often be found in her kitchen blending, brewing, bottling and batching any number of strange and wonderful potions and elixirs. Lucinda loves sharing her experience of the many gifts that the natural world has to offer and empowering others to know and use some of the common plants that grow freely around us. You can find her at www.whisperingearth.co.uk