About Me

I was fortunate to grow up in rural surroundings and spent a lot of my childhood immersed in nature. I was always fascinated with plants. Being curious and, let’s be honest, a bit of a snacker, I nibbled and tasted many of the plants as I got to know them. I didn’t know that this was foraging. This was just what I did! 

 

I continued dabbling as I got older and discovered the nutritious and tasty dishes you can make with wild plants. I also learnt more about using foraged food for herbal remedies and medicine.

 

Foraging for everyone

 

The Irish climate provides a wide and abundant range of plants practically year round. Many of the wild plants we can find and eat were staples of our ancestors. However we have lost this ability and the confidence to identify and use these plants, herbs, fungi and seaweed. Some of these beauties are now considered fine dining and cost a fortune! 

I believe everyone should be able to identify and use edible foraged food from our local wild areas for many reasons. These include to expand your nutrition, your palate, for food security, awareness of local nature, and just to add interest to your walks out and about in the countryside.

 

Why I Teach Foraging

 

I established Green Goes Wild as I get such pleasure bringing people outside and helping them see our local environment in a new way. Away from screens, concrete spaces and the familiar, “safe” places we normally find food. I truly love introducing them to something richer, more diverse and wild. 

Ultimately, we are all the descendants of foragers. It is a curiosity that remains innate in a lot of us to this day. Blackberries anyone? 😊

 

Foraging Protects Our Local Environments

But my ulterior motive in giving foraging courses is to impart a deeper knowledge of our wild spaces that contain a rich biodiversity that deserves acknowledgement.

 

The closer we are to nature and the more we know it, the more we are likely to respect it and take action to preserve it.  If you can see the beauty and wealth in the natural spaces, even small ones, you are 100% less likely to interfere with it or destroy it.

 

The destruction of wild spaces, even small ones, seems to be done without a second thought most of the time. 

 I hope that everyone who attends one of my foraging classes leaves with an intention to maintain and expand this connection. 

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Alternatively, you can contact me to book a foraging course for your friends, your business or your school.