Name: Spring Forest & Hedgerow Foraging Walk & Wild Food Picnic, Loch Lomond
Availability: InStock

Description

A guided foray exploring the delicious, healthy and surprising array of edible plants and fungi available in early Spring, with a wild food tasting picnic in the forest afterwards.

March is a thrilling time for foragers, with the sap rising in trees and springs shoots at their vibrant best. Highlights of the day will include birch tapping, medicinal spring fungi, early shoots, an introduction to fermenting wild greens. This is a great time of year to tune in to wild food resources for the year ahead. Both novices and experienced foragers looking to increase their repertoire will enjoy this event.

Drink birch sap!

Family friendly – 1.5 miles easy walking for all ages. As with all Galloway Wild Foods events, this walk is guided by Mark Williams who has been teaching about foraging for over 25 years.

Read/watch/listen to reviews/films/radio programmes featuring Mark

This event is run in association with Cashel Forest Trust, who are working to restore Scotland’s native woodland. 10% of ticket sales goes to support their work. Click their logo to learn more.

Meeting place: Cashel Native Forest Centre, Balmaha, nr Drymen. G63 0AW . Ticket holders will be sent full details of the meeting place in the week before the event.

Date: Wednesday 16th March 2022

Start: Arrive in time for an 1pm start

Finish: Around 5 pm

Expect: Up to 1.5 miles gentle walking on well made paths over 3 hours, with foraged treats and tasters, followed by a wild food tasting picnic

Early Spring blossoms

Learn:

Early Spring hedgerow plants and fungi (usually at least 30 species) – identification, poisonous lookalikes, sustainable harvesting, tips on how to cook and preserve them
How to sustainably tap birch trees, and what to do with your sap. Tasters and tipples made with birch sap.
Follklore/traditional uses
Modern gourmet, medicinal, craft and nutritional uses of wild plants and fungi
Discussion of the wider politics around foraging and food
When time and weather allow, we lay out and label our finds to serve as a souvenir and aide-memoire of the afternoon’s discoveries.

Covid 19 Policy: Please see here for the latest GWF policy around events, social distancing and what happens in the event of cancellation due to C19 .

Early spring wild foods

Eat/drink: Due to Covid 19 social distancing measures, I have adapted my usual wild cookery session at the end of this event so it is now more like a picnic, with pre-prepared boxes of wild treats for each person that serves as both a tasty meal and a demonstration of how to use and prepare some of our finds. Expect wild plants pestos, ferments, tart, pickled wild mushrooms, mushroom tea, tipples and lots more. All dietary requirements can be catered for – there is an opportunity to add your requirements when you book.

Spring tart

Bring:

Essential: Stout footwear, weather-appropriate clothing, drinking water

Please read the IMPORTANT INFORMATION tab on this page before booking and again before setting off for the event.

Please note: I do not recommend this event for children under 12 years old. Sorry, no dogs unless by prior arrangement.

Explore useful and medicinal fungi of birch trees

Please read the following information before booking a Galloway Wild Foods event.

The general event location is provided in the event description. For general information on visiting Galloway for events, see here.

Detailed event information, including exact meeting place, will be sent to the email address you provide on booking. It is important that you add mark@gallowaywildfoods.com and markleewilliams@googlemail.com to your email contacts/whitelist or the information email may get caught in your spam filters.

The information email will be sent in the week before the event – sometimes as little as 3 days prior to the event. There is no need to badger me for it – I will send it! If you haven’t received it by within 3 days of the event, check your spam folders. If it isn’t there drop me an email – mark@gallowaywildfoods.com.

Galloway Wild Foods is under no obligation to refund, rebook or reinstate vouchers for no-shows or cancellations within 14 days of the event. If I can refill the place at short notice, I will pay a full refund (or reinstate vouchers) less 10% to cover admin & PayPal fees.

If you cancel or amend a booking giving 14 days or more notice, you will receive a full refund (or reinstatement of voucher) less 5% to cover Paypal fees.

In the unlikely event that an event is cancelled by GWF you will receive full refund, exchange or voucher.

Galloway Wild Foods is not liable for any travel, accommodation or other costs you might incur if an event has to be cancelled.

The only weather that causes events to be cancelled is dangerous wind. In these instances you will be notified as early as possible.

Please provide the following information for all members of your party in the “Additional Information” box on the payment page :

Relevant medical conditions
Mobility issues
Eating restrictions – differentiating between preferences (e.g. vegetarian), intolerances (e.g. gluten intolerance) and serious allergies (e.g. peanut allergy), and clearly stating if an allergy is potentially life-threatening. All requirements can usually be catered for, but these differentiations are required for risk assessments.

Please ensure that all members of your party come suitably dressed for the weather, season and event.

On all walks, for your comfort and safety, walking boots/wellies, waterproofs and spare clothes are necessary. I always recommend wellies for coastal foraging events – you are likely to get wet feet if you don’t have them!

Please bring your own drinking water.

Your learning and enjoyment may also benefit from bringing a camera, notebook, field guide, small basket/cloth bag. Feel free to bring along any of your own wild food preparations to share and talk about.

Some events are not suitable for dogs. Please check with me by email if you wish to bring a dog on an event.

Please contact mark on mark@gallowaywildfoods.com if you have specific questions that are not answered here, or if you are running late on the day.