Fergus the forager

[Biddlesby]

Suprised not to find a discussion about Fergus the Forager. Perhaps it's somewhere but I can't find it. The gist is; this guy Fergus Drennan plans to live a year off nothing but wild food and roadkill. Listen again on BBC radio 4 last friday afternoon. He says he tried it for a month, and lost a stone. So I guess he must have at least 12 stone left....

Reckon he'll make it? And what about the pollution from eating roadside greens for a year? He also reckons on starting his diet in April. A good time?

 

[GreenmanBushcraft]

Easy done IMO opinion, if you have some knowledge of wild foods and a bit of time on your side. I think many people these days try and go for the shock value to get on TV or in magazines (not that wild food should be shock value, but the majority seem to view it that way). Take Bear what’s his face, pure shock value to further his carer IMO. Mind you the hotel food probably made up for the eating or live frogs and snakes! I would prefer to watch a secretary bird do it properly.

As far as pollution on the wild greens, I don’t view this as a huge problem unless the road is heavily used. We breath it in all the time and some stuff themselves with all kinds of chemicals and salts in a wide range of junk foods. I don’t for one minute promote eating wild food from a dirty old road side, but let’s face it our bodies are subject to this kind of thing every day if you happen to live in a built up area. Slightly different from eating pollution, granted, but over time I’m sure it will have very similar effects and probably less harmful than smoking.

Good luck to the chap, I wish him all the best!

Kris

 

[Matt Weir]

The month he did was also vegan as well as being just wild food which accounts for the stone. This yearly one he knows he cannot survive like that so will eat meat albeit via roadkill which he accepts as being morally ethical.

The April to April thing is so he can start when there is the spring growth coming about and also gather and preserve throughout the year for the winter months.

If you're reading - Good luck Fergus!

 

[FGYT]

he was discussing it on INEBG Forum etc

I dont know if hes a member on here

this is his website he did a blog on the month on Foraging living
http://www.wildmanwildfood.co.uk/

 

[lofthouse31]

Well road kill provides more carcasses per year than most abatoirs, probably a more prolific provider of meat than dewhirts the butchers,
I have no shadow of a doubt he will succeed, and if hes a decent cook, he may find what with the huge array of vegitation on offer throughout the year, that he has a better and healthier diet thank the average supermarket shopper.
No addatives, no added salts and sugars, no e numbers, etc.
I dont know where fergus is doing this, but in wiltshire where i live, the wild food on offer is very abundant, providing the picker is not too fussy an eater, suspect thats the same in a lot of places.
id add some hunting and fishing to the mix if it were me but that seems to go against fergus ethics, which i can respect.
I wish him the best of luck, but i doubt he will need it.

 

[FGYT]

.
No addatives, no added salts and sugars, no e numbers, etc

tounge in cheek
But Vitamine C is an E number E300 so is Beetroot Juice and Vit E etc along with several other essential and natural things

not all E's are bad without some We Die

i think its possible to go the other way and have to be carfull to provide the right balance and Qty of stuff the body needs

ATB

Duncan

 

[pothunter]

If he's foraging within a coastal location he cant help but succeed I really don't see this as a challenge, road kill everything from frog to red deer. Don't see any need for preserves if its just him.

Pothunter.

 

[Matt Weir]

If he's foraging within a coastal location he cant help but succeed I really don't see this as a challenge, road kill everything from frog to red deer. Don't see any need for preserves if its just him.

Pothunter.

But, man can not live by protein alone Pothunter (even though we try ).

What about important - nay - essential processing of wild fruits into ales and wines. A year with no booze would do my morale no good at all

 

[pothunter]

OK hands up I didn't consider the beer situation, cider!!!

Leaves, berries, fruit and seaweed, that leaves Jan, Feb, Mar when the pickings are traditionally thin but if the winter is like recent years even that should not be to hard.

Anyway a few months of Atkins wont hurt him (or me for that matter)

 

[Matt Weir]

Anyway a few months of Atkins wont hurt him (or me for that matter)

Echo that

 

[Twoflower]

Heard some people talking about this at the weekend. The guy lives on the North Kent coast and definately knows his stuff and where to forage so I don't see that it's going to do him any harm.

As for him being a member here, I wouldn't be too sure about that as he advertises the "wrong" Bushcraft mag

 

[FGYT]

Heard some people talking about this at the weekend. The guy lives on the North Kent coast and definately knows his stuff and where to forage so I don't see that it's going to do him any harm.

As for him being a member here, I wouldn't be too sure about that as he advertises the "wrong" Bushcraft mag

he should know his stuff hes supposed to be a profesional forager and sells what he finds to top restaraunts so should have access to plenty of land with permission
even runs day courses or did

i would think a meat rich diet could make him a bit ill as hes basically Vegan and only eats road kill a few times a year a freind of mine who is a vegi gets in a right mess if they eat meat even a little accidently as their system is no longer used to dealing with it i guess the bacteria etc in the gut change

ATB

Duncan

 

[pothunter]

Don't know anything about vegetarian diet but to my knowledge there is no such thing as a veggie forager they must supplement the diet somehow to get enough protein.

Just look at the amount of green stuff cows and sheep consume they are little more than eating machines, are vegetarians be responsible for global warming!

Save the planet eat a veggie

North Kent coast easy pickings.

Matt, him or me, careful now?

Pothunter.

 

[xylaria]

Don't know anything about vegetarian diet but to my knowledge there is no such thing as a veggie forager they must supplement the diet somehow to get enough protein.

.

I am sure it can be done. Nearly every program and book on foraging leaves out grasses. That is a very important food group, which vertually nobody mentions (including here). Go back three grenerations we ate a far wider scope of grass seeds. Several off the shelf vegan fake food products are based on grasses I can find in the wild, like oat milk for example.

There is also vetch seeds, and dried fungi are good protien sources. The hardest veg product to forage is fat, I can only think of acorn flour. to which a years supply would have to be foraged about now.

 

[lofthouse31]

fgyt
didnt know that, good stuff mate

 

[Matt Weir]

Don't know anything about vegetarian diet but to my knowledge there is no such thing as a veggie forager they must supplement the diet somehow to get enough protein.

Just look at the amount of green stuff cows and sheep consume they are little more than eating machines, are vegetarians be responsible for global warming!

Save the planet eat a veggie

North Kent coast easy pickings.

Matt, him or me, careful now?

Pothunter.

Bring me a vegetarian, I'm not prejudiced - I'll eat anything

I seriously can't do without meat though. A few months back I tried to do a week off the corpses but lasted just 4 days - I was ready for killing someone (yes, and eating them). I have done longer and easier off the ale.

[Just read that lot back an I seem to come across as some kind of cannibal ]

 

[lofthouse31]

matt

the choice between living without meat or beer is a devilish dilemma indeed, without beer i think id be red chopped and neck deep inside a deers rib cage lion style within a week, and without meat permenantly sozzled,

your devilish dillemas matt to hades with you lmao

 

[Matt Weir]

matt

the choice between living without meat or beer is a devilish dilemma indeed, without beer i think id be red chopped and neck deep inside a deers rib cage lion style within a week, and without meat permenantly sozzled,

your devilish dillemas matt to hades with you lmao