Yesterday morning I was out early to forage Ground Elder for our soup. I was greeted by a sea of green: newly emerging leaves as far as the eye could see. I was thinking that this site alone would be enough to feed each person in our local community several times in the coming weeks. And that’s just one place – Ground elder grows pretty much everywhere, which means most people don’t live far from a patch of tasty free vegetables.
Throughout April and May, if you didn’t have much else to eat, you could survive on this. In August (when I’m eating wild for a month) Ground Elder will no longer be available, but there will be other things that I will attempt to live on. However, I came to realise afresh in recent days that the food we eat is not just about bodily survival. “Food” fills our bodies, but “a meal” does more. Sharing a meal strengthens social bonds; lighting a candle signifies a special moment, time to be still and savour what’s on your plate. Even the very simplest of foods can be turned from ‘filling’ into ‘fulfilling’ when prepared with respect and eaten mindfully.
Last night we enjoyed our soup (Ground Elder, potato and onion) and shared a loaf of freshly baked sourdough. Today we took some of the soup with us on a cycling trip and heated it up on the camping stove. Eating it there, out in a field, with all our senses alive, made me feel so grateful for the natural world that we are part of. I said ‘thank you’ to the Ground Elder with every spoonful!
The healthy forager 