Private Course: Short Foraging Walk for Beginners (10/15ppl)

Description

Join us for a 2 hour foraging walk across the seasons at various locations around South & Central Birmingham. The walk will look at common wild plants with edible or medicinal uses, historical uses and poisonous lookalikes aimed at beginners and helping you to get started in the world of foraging.

If you’ve done a few walks before this is still for you – practice what you know, learn new plants in new seasons or environments and get comfortable with your local surroundings.

We have a range of meet up locations and we will then go for walk in the local area from here – these walks can vary and there is no set area. Where possible we will try to loop the walk so that you finish where you started but this will not always be possible.

This course is suitable for a maximum of 15 people to attend.

Location

You choose the location from our selection:

• Ten Acres Woodland – Land Use Fee
  A beautiful woodland area in the heart of Stirchley, Birmingham.
• Highbury Orchard – Land Use Fee
  The orchard itself is full of cultivated finds but we will take you further afield to discover the wild edges, park delights and pavement plants in the local area.
• Key Hill Cemetery (Icknield St Entrance)
  The cemetery and surrounding urban environment is an interesting look at age old plantings and hidden delights in the heart of Birminghams Jewellery Quarter
• Sarehole Mill Carpark
  An area full of green pockets and interesting history with many options for routes and discoveries. Mainly residential and green spaces.
• Cartland Rd/Riverbrook Surgery
  A hub between vastly different worlds including riversides, woodlands, green spaces, residential areas, new builds and the main road urban environment.
• Ripple Road Bridge to Hazelwell
  A great option for exploring stirchley in full including routes through urban environments, green spaces, community orchards and verges.
• Bournville Train Station (Maryvale Rd Entrance)
  On the other side of stirchley at the brink of bournville these routes can go deeper into bournville, travel back through to the residential areas of stirchley, through to local hidden green spaces and look at gardens and pavements.

Alternatively you can request us to come to your location for an appropriate additional travel fee. Please bear in mind that public land is subject to a land use fee to the council and needs to be booked well in advance.

Foraging Through the Seasons

When you forage in the year will greatly affect the kinds of things you are likely to find. Eevrything has its own season and some plants and trees may produce different edibles at different times of the year. For example, the common hawthorn can provide leaves and flowers in the early spring, and haw fruits in the dead of winter. To gain a true understanding of a local area, we recommend you visit it regularly throughout the year and as such have a variety of walks available across these key seasons.

The below is a rough idea on what you may typically be looking at in each season.

• Winter
  Usually a few berries, and if you’re lucky mushrooms. Largely looking at survival foods, small plants in the grass etc and the few edible evergreens.
• Spring
  A time of absolute abundance, everything leafy green and full of flavour comes out including the fabled wild garlics. A great time for tree foraging.
• Summer
  A good mix of flowers and leafy greens and if you’re lucky a few early fruits too.
• Autumn
  Perfect time for roots and late season larger fruits for a typical harvest abundance that makes you feel like you’re really winning at foraging. You may even find the odd mushroom, nuts in a good mast year and some war time essential foods.