The Forager's Calendar: A Seasonal Guide to Nature’s Wild Harvests

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There is so much inspiring information to give you ideas of how to help climate change by growing, eating, and living sustainably, you can: Vitamins A, D, B complex, C, iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, sodium, copper, silica Woodlands, forests and the countryside are a good place to start your foray into foraging, but you may also find wild foods in surprisingly urban places too, such as a local park or even your garden. Where a wild food has different parts that are edible I have noted those in the relevant months, such as roots or leaves. The very beginning of June is a favorite for many, Wild strawberries. These little berries are a smaller version than what you find in the grocery store. The strawberries are sweet, tart, and oh so juicy!

USDA bulletin #8: dandelion greens rank among the top 4 green vegetables in nutrition. beta-carotene, potassium, magnesium, vitamin A, B, micronutrients. Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice. Foraging is fun, and free, but it is important to gain experience. Even after reading and researching you can go out with all the enthusiasm, with pictures of wild foods in your head, then when you get to what you thought was Garlic Mustard you can be left wondering if it’s actually something poisonous. On my first foraging trips I found myself becoming an expert at identifying plants that could kill me but wondering if anything was out there that I could eat. That’s why I combined the seasonal calendars that I found in various foraging books into the one that I am sharing with you in the post. Your UK Foraging Calendar Remember to wear protective clothes since these bushes have many thorns to keep berry hunters away from their treasure troves. Not many people can resist tempting chocolate, but Charlotte Flower, the Loch Tay chocolatier, takes temptation up a notch! From her home at Acharn in Highland Perthshire, Charlotte explores the shores of the loch and nearby woodland in search of Scots pine, wild mint, wood sorrel and elderflower, which she uses to flavour her captivating confectionery. If you’re in the area, ring ahead and drop in to see her before exploring the lovely Acharn Falls nearby. Harris Gin

July

With the brown, feathery appearance of its scaly cap, it’s a polypore, meaning that its underside is covered in pores rather than gills.

There is a wide variety of food you can forage for in Britain, including nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and more. Foraging is a great way to appreciate seasonal change, connect with nature and find wild local ingredients to use in delicious home cooking recipes. For many people, fragrant elderflowers are synonymous with summer and they’re at their best from late May to June depending on where you live. The flowers and berries are the only edible part of the elder tree and require cooking to remove the small amounts of toxic chemicals. How to use it: very versatile with a similar flavour to parsley that goes well with fish. Eat the young leaves and shoots raw or add to salads and sandwiches. You can cook the leaves in a similar way to spinach by steaming or softening in butter. Or add them to anything you're making like soups, stews, bubble and squeak and pasta dishes. Leave enough for wildlife and avoid damaging habitats.Many animals rely on plants for survival, so never take more than you plan to eat as this could also deny wildlife from a valuable food source. Be mindful about wildlife habitats and avoid disturbing or damaging. Summer is now in full swing, and the countryside is brimming with edible plants. It’s now you can find an array of wild fruit, including cherries, raspberries and damsons. Cepsare highly prized in the culinary world and can be found growing in forests from late summer. Tart crab apples begin to ripen, and their high pectin content makes them ideal for preserves. The similarly bitter rowan berries are also brilliant for jellies and liqueurs; they grow in bright red clumps in their namesake tree. SeptemberReal wild strawberries usually grow in woodland areas. They have tan seeds in dimples in the berry’s skin. You might also find the “Indian strawberry,” which grows more often in fields, and has red seeds that stand out from the berry’s skin. These have no flavor but can be safely eaten. Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) Before going foraging I recommend you thoroughly read the River Cottage Handbook No.7, Hedgerow by John Wright. That book comes with the most popular wild food including pictures. Once you’ve read that book, take it out with you when you go foraging and use the details and pictures to help you become familiar with edible wild foods. Plenty of fungi, including oyster mushrooms and winter chanterelles, will be appearing in woodlands, although it’s always safest to head out with a mushroom expert if you’re not sure. Medlars are in season at this time of year too, and hawthorn berrieswill be at their sweetest towards the beginning of the month. The tiny crimson fruits are good for making liqueurs and jellies. December The Cornish make a delicious cheese using them, the Nepalese make curries and some people even use them for clothing. Bilberry and Almond Streusel Cake

It can be cooked and served like spinach. They are nice and tender earlier in the season when they’re young. Foraging is a great hobby and life skill that anyone can learn. It can be done with family, friends, or by yourself. Foraging is one of the best ways to reconnect with nature. While foraging is easy to learn it can be hard to master. Here’s a little cheat sheet for those just starting or those who just want to add to their list of what to keep an eye out for while adventuring. Ramps (Allium tricoccum) This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably. The Cornish make a delicious cheese using them, the Nepalese make curries and some people even use them for clothing. Nettle soup/Credit: Getty ImagesOur expert monthly foraging guide explains how to forage safely, the law and what's in season each month. What is foraging? June is a great season for greens. Stinging Nettle is a great find for beginning to mid-June. Stinging nettle will lose its sting upon boiling or steaming. Stinging nettle is highly nutritious. It was used to treat arthritis and ancient Romans rubbed it on their skin to stay warm. Over the last five years, Scottish gin has grown in both profile and popularity. Indeed over 70% of the UK’s gin is produced here. Many producers use locally foraged botanicals to make their spirit stand out from others. One of the most unusual we’ve discovered is sugar kelp, which is used, along with other botanicals, to flavour Harris Gin . This hand-dived seaweed, gives the spirit a distinct and delicious taste that’s the very essence of the island it comes from. Williams' Bros. Brewing Co I’ve added a note at the top of the calendar as a reminder to buy your yearly yeast and other items if you are home brewing. Brewing using foraged food is extremely low cost if you use up old wine bottles so it’s at the heart of being self sufficient. It’s also incredibly fun but you do have to wait a year for your home brewed wine to mature so it’s worth starting as soon as you can to get the experience and start storing batches so you have them in future years. Found the calendar helpful? I have colour coded the months as a reminder of the seasons, although they should only be taken as a heads up because global warming does mess with seasonality. Also, when plants grow is hugely influenced by the location so there will be differences all over the UK.

I created this UK foraging calendar (access here) on Google Sheets that is free for all to copy, use, and improve. UK Foraging Calendar Explaining the calendar As a next step you could progress to Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants of Britain and Ireland by Robin Harford. This book gives further detail of edible wild food and comes with a free online photo identification guide. Wild ramps boast a variety of nutrients and beneficial compounds that may improve your digestion, promote weight loss, reduce inflammation, and fight heart disease. Violets, both the leaves and flowers, contain high amounts of vitamin C and vitamin A. Wild Violets are used to make syrups, teas, and baked goods. Flowers can be added to salads and soups as garnish. Moderation is important, as this plant does contain a compound called saponin, so eating violet flowers and leaves in excess may cause digestive issues. Wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca) They’ve given us some of the most agonising experiences of our young lives as nippers and they continue to upset our own children and grandchildren, but nettles are more than just needled irritants.These tiny, delicious red berries will ripen first in sunny locations and the further North you live they will fruit closer to mid-June. Bilberries look like small blueberries, and they are closely related, but their taste is much more intense and sharp. You will need to work hard to find them. Extremely difficult to grow and therefore rarely cultivated, bilberries are a real treat for a forager. In this post you can find a link to a simple uk foraging calendar that gives typical dates that wild foods can be foraged for you to use in home cooking and brewing.