“Knowing your own patch of green…”

A key component of bushcraft in my opinion is being able to tune into the natural world around you and appreciate how plants can be transformed into food, medicine, natural cordage, and fire lighting materials to name just a few. My journey as a bushcraft instructor at Woodland Ways has always had a strong plant-based focus.

Recently I have been reflecting on the human desire to travel to find bushcraft adventure and that surely there are other ways to engage in equally meaningful ways.

We can all gain experience from travelling to far away places for adventure but surely there is much to be said for keeping it local too!

I like to view all experience as an opportunity to learn and am certainly not an advocate of one fixed view. It is clear to me that this is not one thing or the other but a both and situation. My ability to access faraway adventure is restricted as I have a large family to provide for and have spent time reflecting on how I can access the deeper connection that I strive for within the boundaries of my own limitations.

This has led me to explore the “old fashioned concept of knowing your own patch” to engaging with place.

When I was young, we would go out for the day and come back at teatime without a second thought. We explored the woods and countryside for hours at a time. I considered it to be totally normal whereas now this seems to have become culturally unacceptable. Maybe it is something to do with getting older that you want to go back to the things you enjoyed as a younger version of yourself but I feel drawn to the need to know my patch and it is the plants that are pulling me in. Richard Lovre discusses this in depth in his book “The last child in the Woods” and has coined the description “Nature deficit disorder.” I would not describe my life as being deficient in nature but I am acutely aware of how lucky I am to have access to living and working outdoors all year round. I am driven to search for new ways to connect and this year I am exploring the concept of “knowing my local green patch.”

What do I mean by this? Well as a bushcraft instructor and landscape gardener I am outdoors all the time with a particular purpose in mind or goal to achieve, but I like to spend time noticing the plants that appeal to me from a bushcraft context too. I am very lucky to work in the same gardens throughout the seasons which allows me to notice the small changes that happen week to week. My focus for this blog is some of the wild greens that present themselves to me in my patch either at work or in my neighbourhood.

I strongly believe that food comes from here if you are tuned into the possibilities of what there is to offer in your environment.

Since the epic rise of the supermarkets in the 1980s to present day we have become more and more removed from the story of where our food comes from to the point that many young people no longer even care. I am determined that my children know where food comes from and how to develop the skills to procure it. I like to eat wild meat and foraged greens in my diet whenever I can. To eat exclusively wild food is an enormous challenge

It is important to make wild foraged food a part of your lifestyle in a way that works for you! John Kallas the famous American wild food practitioner is very clear with his students that wild fast food is a great way of integrating wild food into your diet. I spent several summers visiting Crete in my late twenties and early thirties and loved the way they use wild greens as a side dish that they call Horta. This is wild and domesticated greens and is not specific to one species. It typically, but not exclusively includes Chicory, Endive, Curly Endive, Amaranth, Dandelion and Chicory. The greens are boiled, dressed in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and a generous squeeze of lemon. They are a delicious side dish and a great way to engage with seasonal wild greens. I was reminded of this experience when reading Where the wild things grow by David Hamilton.  Here are some of my personal wild food practices that are currently working for me.

This is all food that comes from here. The hedge garlic and ground elder came from a garden I was working in, the dandelion leaves came from an overgrown garden 1 minute from my front door, the wood pigeon was shot by my son and his mate a few villages from here and the chips came from the local chippy 1 minute from my front door.

Why not be inspired to add a little bit of wild into your everyday diet, remember to make it realistic and not exclusively wild. It is okay to have chips too!

Book mentions:

• Richard Lovre The last child in the woods
• John Kallas Edible wild plants
• David Hamilton Where the wild things grow