RE YOU KEEN ON FORAGING? OR MAYBE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS!
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS LINK TO FIND OUT MORE
OUR FORAGING WALK WAS CONDUCTED BY CLAUDIO BINCOLETTO
IT WAS ON SUNDAY 1 DECEMBER PETERSHAM, NEAR RICHMOND
It was an early start, 9.30, at the Petersham Nurseries, which is, as you might guess, in Petersham between Ham and Richmond on Thames, Surrey.
Petersham Nurseries seemed immediately welcoming and attractive and I spent some time wandering around the area near where Claudio Bincoletto and Alastair Cameron plus others were busy cutting up bread and getting glasses ready for the 'brunch'. I will write more about the nursery on a later post.
Round tables were set with cutlery, glasses, cups and napkins.
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| Claudio Bincoletto introduces our Foraging morning walk |
First Claudio and Alistair Cameron gave a brief introduction about Foraging and Slow Food.
SLOW FOOD
From the Slow Food website:
"1986
Slow Food is created in Italy after a demonstration on the intended site of a McDonald’s at the Spanish Steps in Rome.
FOODIES
Well, there is so much interest now in food, and half the people you know seem to be 'foodies', cooking, growing, visiting farmers markets, that sort of thing. If necessary they seem to wear wellies permanently, and anoraks, and look fit enough to take a quick 20 mile walk before breakfast.
Our group included some wellie and anorak wearers, a few carrying those fancy walking sticks with pointed ends.
I had on my old old leather shoes, and I discovered on setting out, the reason why I had put them on one side to chuck out a year ago. The soles had completely disintegrated, but I managed to plod along, without heels. Luckily there was very little mud.
WALKING FROM PETERSHAM NURSERIES TO HAM
We walked from Petersham through a few tiny alleys between houses, cottages and private land, until we came to Ham Common.
Claudio said that winter is his favourite time of year, and then you can see everything that is growing, including the fungi.
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| Fungi in season in autumn |
He explained that if you want to pick anything, it has to be on common land.
COMMON LAND
You must not take anything from someones garden without permission, or a public garden, or even by the side of the footpath. That constitutes theft; (what happened in the 18th century was the poor were denied access to their 'common land', for grazing their livestock or growing crops, picking herbs and saladings, thus causing great hardship and starvation.) We walked on, at a brisk but not unpleasant pace.
IVY AND YEW
Claudio explained that yew and holly are important native trees/
Chestnuts are on their way out now., chestnuts, elms and ash are all afflicted with diseases and will die out very quickly. Ivy is the only winter flowering plant and provides flowers and berries for wildlife. It is one of our basic British plants and he loves it. Research is being done on its use medicinally. Its role in nature is to take down trees, causing the trees to decay, increasing fungi and giving space for new growth.
He does what he describes as "Sky Foraging", and he is a tall man - he means he collects things on his eye level or higher, if possible, to avoid contamination from animals, humans and petrol fumes. This higher stuff is cleaner. He never forages for eating stuff in London, because of pollution from cars and lorries.
We walked down an avenue of trees that included limes, another of our native trees, the tiny buds of which are nourishing and the young leaves in spring can be added to salads.
NETTLES AND ALCANET
Nettles were here and there and he pointed out the very young low shoots can be used added to soups, also alcanet or wood borage (pentaglottis sempervirens), the young leaves of which are sweet, and should first be mixed with spinach if you eat it. Also cow parsley can be added, a very little of it, to salads. Alcanet is a problem in gardens where I live, as it has long taproots and is very difficult to pull out, and it self-seeds all over the place. Drat it!
He pointed out that we should try things like nettles in very small quantities, and add to another green veg such as spinach, until we are sure that we like the taste. It is an acquired taste as it is bitter, as it sorrel.
Always try a new leaf mixed with one you know, because the new taste can get some getting used to. I had previously made notes about leaves which we can add to our diet, when attending a RHS Flower Show in the Autumn. See the link to my earlier post, here:
HOW TO FORAGE - MY EARLIER POST DONE IN OCTOBER
He said that the basis of most academic research on plant use had to be for the use the benefit of the pharmaceutical industry, to make money; that research is what the pharmaceutical industry will support financially.
He said, very seriously, that our societies are on the brink of collapse, as there were 9 billion of us, and that two thirds of the planet was at risk of deforestation.
He whistled at a bird, possibly a thrush, and it mimicked him; he said birds will mimic you and also owls will come towards light, in the evening, so to attract them, leave your blinds open.
MORE ABOUT TREES
Oaks; lots are dying off from oak dieback, possibly because the water level is too low now after draught. Claudio said that fungi are the only organisms that can process wood, 91% of living organism are fungi and they are essential to life, they give nourishment to the soil.
When looking at fungi, have a small magnifying glass, and look at the gills and spores. How the gills join the stalk gives an idea of what kind of mushroom it is. We saw some very small greyish mushrooms in a clump by the dead oak tree, which he picked and gave us to smell. He said it was not very good to eat, it smelled of acrylic paint! The Chinese apparently like it and it is farmed in China. He said do a Google search for Rogersmushrooms - to get a good visual guide, and it certainly looks very good, here is a link:
We walked very near the ground of Ham House, which I have not yet visited, alas. It had a stillroom there which was where herbs etc were stored to be used in a tradition of healing closely associated with 'witches' in the past. Claudio mentioned Stevia, which I am growing in a little pot, it is a green leaved herb with very sweet leaves which have no calories and can be used to sweeten food and drink, and used in cake making. You can dry the leaves too or make a herb tea.
ARTISTS MUSHROOM, OR AS A SEARCH ON GOOGLE REVEALED, THE ARTIST'S CONK MUSHROOM
and pictures here:
There was a huge fungi growing on one of the ash trees by the river. It is called - one of its names - the artists mushroom. When sliced you can draw on it like a kind of slate, making dark marks on the off-white surface, which is then a permanent message or graphic. Loved by children, apparently! Claudio said he uses chunks of this fungi as a paperweight.
We passed a clump of very large lime trees by the river. It is apparently rare to see such big healthy trees in London. Likely that the water from the Thames is helping in their growth, this is in the flood plain.
THE RIVER THAMES AT PETERSHAM
The walkway along the river is the remains of the old drover road from London in the 14th and 15th century. Loads could be transported by boat down (or up, not sure which is the correct expression!) to London with the current, but loads coming upstream had to be hauled by oxen or horses, thus the ancient grassy roadway along the bank of the River. It was the original way from Hampton Court up to Whitehall
BIODYNAMICS.
Claudio talked about the influence of the moon, on the appearance of mushrooms, saying when the moon is waning or dark, more mushrooms appear. He found that the moon's cycle also affected when calves and lambs are born, speaking of his experience as a child on the family farm in Italy.
He uses the biodynamic calendar to time when to sow his seeds, and to prepare the soil for sowing.
I notice there are a couple of books for sale on Amazon on biodynamic gardening, and a calendar, Maybe I will give it a go, (make life even more complicated!)
We walked back to the Petersham nurseries along the beautiful Thames and arrived to find the delicious 'brunch' ready for us to eat and drink, and at the same time take the chance to talk to the other people who had taken the walk. I shall probably sign up for the spring Foraging Walk, it was really great.
There is a lot of information on the internet about foraging, for instance this website
THE ECOLOGIST, TOP TEN FOODS TO FORAGE
Alistair gave us a brief talk about the Slow Food Movement, which I mentioned above. He also talked about Terra Madre day, on 10 December, see
