Wild Mushroom & Bushcraft Camp, Perthshire

Description

Wild mushrooms – Wild camp – Wild cookery

Three days of deep forest immersion exploring all thing fungi

3rd – 5th October.

Join foraging guide Mark Williams of Galloway Wild Foods and Steven Hanton of The Wilderness Folk School for an immersive fungi-themed 3 days of mycology, mushroom hunting, wild gastronomy, outdoor cooking, camp craft and bushcraft skills in the stunning woodlands of Perthshire.

“This was absolutely THE BEST! Mark, Hannah and Steven led us through a wonderful few days, looked after us, informed us, fed us, inspired us, entertained us and made the whole weekend amazing. Thanks to all my fellow weekenders for great company and fun.” – Charlotte Flower, 2024 Attendee

This long weekend consists of guided walks, talks, forays, presentations, workshops, hands-on cookery, fungal medicine-making, mushroom crafts, wild living skills and relaxed camp living. We will be based in a stunning private riverside oak woodland campsite. Expect wood smoke, parachute shelters,  delicious food and deep immersion in Perthshire’s spectacular forests in all their autumn glory.

While our main theme for the course is fungi, we will also take an interest in plants and their uses.

The event is suitable for fungi novices, though those with a basic understanding of fungi looking to improve their ID skills and connect more deeply with mycology will also enjoy it.

“MAGICAL 5 star weekend – instructors, other course members, location, itinerary, the campite, food and cocktails. I learned so much and look forward to booking on more courses with these guys. If you are thinking of booking on a course don’t hesitate!” – Caroline Dennison, 2024 Attendee

Meet Your Guides…

Steven Hanton is a bushcraft expert with over 20 years’ experience in wilderness skills, bushcraft and remote travel. He has spent extensive time with indigenous peoples across the globe for whom bushcraft is still a way of life, but he is no more at home than when exploring the fantastic woods, rivers and mountains of his native Scotland. A resident of highland Perthshire, Steven is passionate about the natural history and wildlife of the area and brings a wealth of experience to this exciting collaboration. As well as sharing years of practical fungi foraging knowledge, Steven will run the expedition style camp, bring some bushcraft magic and teach some exciting campfire cookery techniques.

Mark Williams of Galloway Wild Foods is a passionate mycophile, wild gastronomer and professional wild food educator, who has been teaching about wild mushroom identification and edibility for 30 years. Mark is a font of knowledge and enthusiasm on wild fungi, specialising in making this often daunting subject fun and accessible to novices, while providing solid foundations for a lifetime of discovery, enjoyment and worry-free wild eating. Mark writes widely on this subject and works closely with leading mycologists, landowner/conservation organisations such as The National Trust and Scottish Natural Heritage. Mark’s wild mushroom cookins are legendary! Mark is also a member of the Association of Foragers and the British Mycological Society.

Steven and Mark share a love of the outdoors and the natural world,  and know how to make it fun and accessible.  You will leave with new skills, knowledge and insights into the remarkable world of fungi, as well as outdoor living and fire cookery skills.

Location:

Aberfeldy area. Our camp will be in a privately owned oak woodland with some nice wild swimming spots. Ticket holders will be notified of the exact meeting point and kit list a month prior to the event.

Format: 

This is a holistic and immersive weekend based around a fully provisioned wild camp, with food included in the ticket price. You should bring your own camping gear, but full camp infrastructure including fire-pits, sheltered social spaces, hygienic outdoor toilet, shower and lots more will be set up for you.

The weekend is designed to give a full and rounded insight into the fungal kingdom and to help those with a basic grounding in fungi identification and usage take their skills to the next level. While we will certainly take an interest in edible fungi, and eat plenty, the weekend is about exploring and understanding ALL fungi. Camp life and outdoor skills will also be a core part of the weekend, and you can expect plenty of expert guidance around wild camping and cookery skills throughout.

The course includes walks, talks, hands-on workshops, wild food cookery using open fires,  discussion of the most useful fungi textbooks, and exploration of a diverse range of (very mushroomy) forest habitats.

While our focus for the weekend is fungi, we will certainly not ignore the useful and delicious wild plants we encounter along the way!

Expect:

You should be happy camping in autumn conditions, and have your own camping gear (a full kit list will be issued prior to the event).

You should be prepared to contribute (with guidance/training) to camp life with such tasks as fire-tending, food preparation and washing up.

You should be of moderate fitness and comfortable outdoors in all weathers.

For a full course info, itinerary and kit list see here.

What is Included in the Ticket Price?

• A fabulous campsite with multiple sheltered fire spaces for learning, socialising, cooking and eating. The riverside oak woodland has some beautiful wild swimming spots.

 

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner from Friday lunch until Sunday lunch. Cooking and eating together are integral parts of the weekend and the event is catered to a very high standard using a wide range of wild mushrooms/herbs, Scottish cheeses from The Ethical Dairy and wild meat.  Most dietary requirements can be accommodated, though if you don’t eat wild meat you will miss out on some of the highlights. While Steven and Mark will lead the cooking, you will be expected to be an active participant in food preparation and cleaning up afterwards (ie. don’t expect to be waited on!).

 

• Camping Friday and Saturday nights.  We’ll be wild camping in a beautiful private oak woodland by a river. You’ll pitch your own tent (we can help if required), but we’ll have great camp infrastructure set up for you, with a parachute shelter, a social fire area, a fire cooking areas, clean drinking water, a camp shower (though there is a great river swim spot right by our camp), and a kettle always on the go. We will set up a typical camp toilet that is hygienic, comfortable, pleasant, ecologically sensitive and private. Don’t want to camp? While we recommend camping on site to get the most out of the course, you may also stay off-site, but this does not reduce the ticket price. The campsite is not accessible for campervans, but there are nearby off-site campervan options if required.

 

• Tuition, presentations, guided walks, workshops and practical sessions on wild mushrooms, bushcraft and general outdoor skills  with Mark and Steven. The weekend will be full, but gently paced, and its possible to take time out of the schedule if you wish for wild swimming, tent time or whatever you need. On Friday we’ll meet at a remarkably fungi-filled forest, and our baskets will be well filled before we get back to camp and spend time getting to know our finds using field guides before laying out and labelling them, then processing for preservation, medicinal use, or dinner. The Saturday will be similar, only exploring different habitats closer to camp. Sunday is left flexible to respond to the needs and interests of attendees. The guided forays move at a slow pace but you should be comfortable on pathless, boggy and hilly terrain.  The event is timed to allow us to encounter the widest possible diversity of fungi (expect over 100 species), but this can be a wet time of year.

 

• Wild Cocktails – Mark brings his legendary selection of foraged spirits, potions and elixirs and you’ll be guided through a selection of foraged cocktails throughout the weekend.

Topics covered include:

Fungi Skills and Knowledge:

• The important roles fungi plays in nature
• How to go about identifying important families and species of fungi
• How to make and use spore prints to help identify fungi
• The role foragers can play in enhancing and recording fungal diversity
• Multiple fungi habitats, including ancient oak, beech, conifers, birch and ancient pasture
• Tree identification in relation to finding and identifying mushrooms
• How to observe and record key features of fungi
• How to home in on the most rewarding edible species
• Responsible harvesting: ethics and sustainable harvesting practices
• Important poisonous species
• Medicinal uses of fungi
• Fire lighting with fungi
• Psychedelic fungi
• Preservation and cooking techniques
• Key resources for taking your personal learning forward
• Using fungi in wild cocktails
• Fungi lore, tales and stories – by the campfire

Campcraft and Wild Cookery:

Steven has a vast knowledge and experience of bushcraft and will be sharing his passion and insight throughout the course. In particular we will be exploring:

• Fire lighting, management and specific fire lays for cooking
• Wood choice for cooking fires, hot-smoking and poisonous woods to avoid
• Underground (hāngī) cookery
• Wilderness cookery techniques – planking, broiling and campfire breads
• Making amadou and other utilitarian uses for fungi

Questions or Further Information: ALL enquiries should be directed to Steven at Wilderness Folk School :
stevenh.wilderness@gmail.com NOT Galloway Wild Foods. There is extensive information, kit list, FAQs etc here.