2025 dates coming soon
Vicky has teamed up with Heather of Heathery Heights for this special two day event, focusing on the lush spring greens that are abundant at this time of year.
Heather is a professional mountain leader and fellow Association of Foragers member. She is a passionate wild foodie and loves nothing better than sharing her knowledge with others and creating delicious food from Scotland’s natural larder. You can read more about Heather and the services she offers here,
https://www.heatheryheights.co.uk/
We will be based in The Old Garden Nursery, for our celebration, a beautiful cottage style garden, near to the Old Iron Furnace in Taynuilt, Argyll.
This is an area rich in culture and has endless foraging possibilities, being close to the shore line of the Loch Etive with bountiful hedgerows, woodland and meadow.
Each year, our ancestors would have gone out daily to gather a wide variety of wild green plants to revitalise them after the winter.
The herald of Spring, Wild Garlic is nutrient dense and highly medicinal, its heady scent assaulting the senses on a seasonal walk.
Not only will the Wild Garlic be abundant in Argyll at this time, but lots of other wonderful wild greens, the ancient superfoods that are sadly cast aside in modern times as “weeds”, will also be starting to make an appearance.
This is an immersive, hands-on sensory adventure.
Saturday will see us roaming the hedgerow, coast, meadow and woodland gathering and exploring the wild flavours of our native green friends.
We shall then head back to the Garden to use our ingredients to create a delicious middle eastern inspired wild lunch, with wild drinks and dessert to compliment it.
We shall end Saturday with a Forest Bathe, amongst the beautiful trees of The Old Garden Nursery.
Sunday will find us foraging for material for the fire, taking part in workshops involving wildcrafting food, medicine and fire.
We will learn how to build and light a fire using ancestral techniques. How to sort and grade the wood we collected in to piles for different uses. You will have the opportunity to try different methods to light the fire, with guidance from Vicky.
We shall create and enjoy a Mediterranean style meal together, using the wild ingredients we gathered on Saturday, with wild drinks and dessert to compliment it, then spend the afternoon wildcrafting our own Spring ferments, salts and vinegars.
The weekend will close with a fire circle.
During the weekend you will learn:
- How to forage for wild food, medicine and wild crafting materials safely and sustainably
- Foraging and the law
- About how to identify a wide variety of wild plants
- How to make wild teas, infusions and tinctures
- How to cook a meal on an open fire
- How to light a fire using traditional firelighting techniques
- How to connect with the Earth on a deeper, more meaningful level
You will have access, on both days, to our wild apothecary, to create your own herbal teas and Heather and Vicky will be on hand to advise how our plant allies can support us.
There will be time to explore The Old Garden Nursery and purchase some plants to take away should you wish, (it’s a cash only basis so bring some along if you think this is something you’d like to do).
You will leave on Sunday with new skills, feeling energised and uplifted, having spent the weekend immersed in wildcrafting and plant lore.
As well as taking away your own wild Spring ferment, infused salt, and infused vinegar, you will also receive a follow-up email of all the recipes from the weekend, along with a list of all the plants we met, used or discussed.
Please note, sadly this event is not suitable for attendees with mobility issues.
If you have a food allergy or intolerance, please contact Vicky and Heather before booking.