Foraging Workshop
A successful evening of foraging took place on Wednesday 8th March 2017. Plant identification was the first skill needed for foraging – “if you don’t know what it is, you shouldn’t eat it” said Chris. We spent a good amount of time walking around identifying natives, exotics (some would call them weeds), and poisonous plants. Chris pointed out Cooks scurvy grass – a very common and useful native brassica that was once abundant around the coasts of New Zealand, it is now a very rare plant, but grows well in the garden!
Poisonous plants included poroporo, hemlock and bittersweet and hemlock in particular looks very like many other foragable plants where flowerheads are in umbels (flowerheads with many tiny white flowers). However, there were many more plants that we saw which were useful – a list is attached.
We then adjourned to the Education Centre where Maggie gave a presentation on foraging – with fascinating facts on how today’s diet and use of plants has changed dramatically from previously as follows:
•People used to graze on three to five thousand plants.
•Now we rely on 150 with only 20 providing 90% of our intake.
•American stats show that just FOUR crops account for 2/3 of their calories.
•They are soy, corn, wheat and rice.
Then we went on the to sample a few foraged delights – nettle and wild foods pesto, horopito pepper, elderberry truffles, elderflower cordial and champagne, and samples of teas or tissanes – lemon verbena, Manuka, lemon balm, chamomile, and dandelion tea.
Posted: 13 March 2017