Nature’s bounty: How foraging for local free food is helping people ‘reconnect with nature’ and find new wellbeing – The Courier
Michael Alexander discovers how a renewed interest in foraging is helping people reconnect with nature and improve their well-being.
Its that time of year when glistening brambles, hanging heavy with their autumn fullness, tantalise the taste buds of ramblers and wild animals alike.
From the bushes that cling effortlessly to wild clifftops, to those juicy clusters of berries that remain ever so slightly out of reach down country lanes, theres something timeless about the sweet sensation of wild berry picking so long as autumnal pickings are plucked higher than the potential dog wee zone of course!
But while the traditions of foraging for local wild produce to supplement diet would once have been a much greater part of everyday life in our rural communities, the year 2019 is seeing a growing interest in the joys of foraging thats allowing people to explore Scotlands natural places and increase their knowledge of wild food and medicinal plants.
Scrambling onto the rocky shoreline near St Monans in Fife, New Zealand-raised seaweed forager and self-confessed hippy Jayson Byles is in his element as he leads a small group down to his office the beach.
The dreadlocked former chef, who moved to the East Neuk four years ago after being offered a management position for a commercial seaweed company, set-up his own sustainable seaweed company East Neuk Seaweed this year.
My favourite seaweed is sea spaghetti, explains Jayson, who has been foraging since he was a child.
What I like about it most is that you can eat it straight off the rocks. Its got a really nice texture. You can have a little nibble.
Jayson says people need to keep safe at the beach and know that what they are picking is edible.
But if you know what to look for, there are some wonderful seaweeds.
He particularly likes the flavour of the pepper dulse and is also attracted to some of the more elusive seaweeds particularly if he finds one out of season.
For me its not just about the seaweed, its about the whole thing, he adds.
Seaweed plays an important role in the coastal eco-system down here. Seaweed really links lots of stuff together. Its a link between the ocean and the land, hence one of my catchphrases is Where Earth, Sea and Sky Meet.
If you are standing down here on the low water mark at 7pm with the sunset, your feet in the sea, its very magical.
For me its important that people keep safe, but what I really want is for people to reconnect with the amazing environment thats out there, and if we can all do that, then hopefully we can all have a greater understanding of nature and make those changes in life that need to be made right now.
Scottish Food Guide director Wendy Barrie, who lives in Aberdour, is also a strong advocator of improving human wellbeing through engagement with open air activities and a reconnection with local foods.
Having recently managed Foraging Fortnight which was designed to encourage people of all ages to participate safely and responsibly in different foraging activities, she started off brambling as a child and now specialises in cooking with locally-sourced delights such as wild mushrooms and wild marjorams.
I dont think we can widen interest overnight, but I think (the recent) Foraging Fortnight is a fantastic opportunity to make a start, says Wendy, who is married to a Swede with foraging in his DNA, and enjoys having readily available access to wild produce in the Fife countryside.
Its not just about what mushrooms are edible, but to actually get out there, breathe the air, enjoy the freshness to spot really recognisable things like brambles and rosehips.
Wendy recalled how her granny would cook rosehips. In the past, rosehips and brambles gave added vitamins at times of year when other produce wasnt perhaps growing well.
There was always something that could add a little bit of life and interest to what can be a slightly dull palate sometimes, she adds.
But today theres a whole generation now that doesnt cook rosehips.
What I want people to realise is that they can pick to their level whether you are down on the seashore foraging or whether you are doing brambling with the family. Free food and its delicious!
In Highland Perthshire, husband and wife team Rob and Gabrielle Clamp have used their backgrounds as forester and healer to revive centuries-old folk knowledge surrounding the use of birch trees.
Highland folklore refers to birch sap being used as a revitalising drink and purifier. The leaves were used for anti-inflammatory purposes and urinary tract healing, while the bark has anti-cancer properties.
However, while the practice of tapping birch trees used to be common in springtime, the Highland Clearances and the Industrial Revolution brought about a disconnect when people came off the land and generally stopped working in the woods.
Now, through their Birken Tree company, Rob and Gabrielle are bottling Pure Highland Birchwater while promoting the sustainability of Scotlands 91,000 hectares of birch woodland.
Caithness-raised Rob, 51, who has worked in forestry all his working life, explained how a small hole is drilled into a tree and a tap is put in with a bag underneath. A single birch tree can give five litres of sap per day for about three weeks before being rested until the following season.
As a forester this knowledge was not part of your education, he says.
Youd learn how to grow trees. I was always aware of the old folk in the Highlands who would tap birch trees mainly to make wine. But what I wasnt aware of was all the health benefits you had from birch sap.
About a year ago we bought a bottle of birch water and discovered that was made in Finland. Thats what triggered our idea because Scotlands full of birch trees.
With a big emphasis on health and being local, Rob said the closest comparison to birch sap would be coconut water. However, coconut water travels half way around the world and has a big carbon footprint.
By comparison, Rob says the advantage of birch water is that it has a zero carbon footprint, its local and it comes from native trees as well.
I think we tick lots of boxes in that respect, he adds. Really its not something new. We are reviving an old tradition.
A common theme running through foraging is a desire to reconnect with nature, and its this ethos that is at the heart of work by Findhorn-based ethno-botanist Jennie Martin.
The founder and director of award-winning Moray-based environmental education charity Wild things! has 24 years of experience developing, co-ordinating and delivering environmental education activities.
She particularly enjoys working with those that struggle with access to the wild and wonderful places on their doorstep due to lack of confidence, resources or other social or environmental challenges.
Leading our small group into the heart of a secluded East Neuk of Fife woodland, she gives a fascinating insight into forest bathing a centuries-old cornerstone of Japanese healthcare which aims to reduce stress and increase wellbeing by drawing on the therapeutic powers of nature and reconnect people with the natural environment.
Instructing us to stand in a circle with our toes touching and our hands out stretched, we are asked to close our eyes, to breathe deeply and to relax while smelling, tasting and listening to the forest around us.
After a few minutes of sensory immersion guided by Jennies gentle, calming tones and with our eyes still closed she places an object in our hands.
In my case its a pebble which Im asked to get to know through touch and smell alone.
After a few minutes, Jennie removes the stones, puts them in a pile at the centre of the circle and, when we open our eyes, challenges us to find the stone we had been at one with. I find mine straight away having become intimate with its shape.
But whats most striking is the rush of colours from the forest that flood the senses when the eyes are re-opened.
I believe that the more time people spend in nature, the more they care for nature, and as we know we have to do that now more than ever given what is going on in the environment, she says.
We know its that heart connection which really stimulates change. The biggest change weve had environmentally in the last 40 years was the (TV series) Blue Planet.
Thats because we saw the worlds environmental problems close up, looked in their eyes and felt an empathy with those animals even though it was in our living room.
To actually be outside in nature, we get the added benefit of how much it gives you personally.
In Japan theyve been measuring the biochemical changes in the body that happen when youre outside.
After just 15 minutes, theyve recorded a drop in cortisol, which is your stress hormone, by 16%.
Spending time outdoors in nature also builds bonds and community with people.
I work with the elderly. I work with adults with mental health problems and addiction/recovery programmes.
How people bond in nature is a glue like no other glue Ive ever found to bring out the best in people. Thats pretty awesome, and its another reason why people should do what they can to reconnect with the natural world.
*The next Foraging Fortnight, funded by the LEADER project, is due to take place from Saturday May 2 to Sunday May 17, 2020.
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