WILD FOOD AND FORAGING near Shepton Mallet // 22 October 2023

Join professional forager Jemima Gleave for a day of foraging and open your eyes, heart and mouth to the abundant wild sustenance that surrounds us.

Our course will begin with a foraging walk where I'll show you the wild plants you can eat and make medicine with. We'll explore ways to identify each plant and how to be sure these are not dangerous lookalikes, the edible and medicinal uses of each plant and some of the ethnobotany and folklore that surrounds them.

We'll forage ingredients for our lunch and we'll have a chance to try out some of your new skills before preparing a delicious, healthy three-course organic meal together, incorporating our foraged ingredients.

All profits from this course will be donated to raise funds for an autism therapy dog to be trained which costs £3800. The dog (called Snuffkin) belongs to a 6-year old girl who has Autism Spectrum Disorder.

About your course leader

My name is Jemima Gleave. I work as a foraging instructor for Totally Wild UK. I began foraging around 12 years ago ago as I developed an interest in herbal medicine. I’d make lotions and potions with the flowers, seeds, leaves and roots gathered on my rambles around Devon's countryside. I've always loved stories and I developed a particular fascination with the folklore and myths surrounding different plants, enchanted by the ways that people throughout history have related with the natural world. Gradually the hedges, verges, forests and fields became alive to me in a way I’d never known. My developing ability to understand the plants around me felt like I was learning to read again, but the pages were hedges and the words were green, nourishing and delicious. My evolving relationship with the wild plants around me became a deep source of inspiration, excitement and nurture in my life.

I've spent the last 10 years working and volunteering in the field of sustainable community development. This work in supporting communities to protect and connect with nature has further solidified my belief that it's an essential aspect in the environmental movement. Through developing an experiential understanding of the wild, we enter into a more intimate and loving relationship with the natural world. This fosters a greater drive to protect the world we love.