Id just like to say thanks to Joe and the team at Wilderness Survival Skills for a very enjoyable and instructive weekend down in Wiltshire taking part in their Wild Food Forage course. Id previously been on a Primitive Tools course with WSS and had been sufficiently impressed by the instructors (I posted a review of the course on BCUK last year) to pay for another of their courses.
Friday evening comprised the usual site safety brief, a lesson in putting up a basha for those who wanted to borrow one, a cutting tools lesson and making digging sticks for the next day. The evening meal, a hearty sausage casserole, was as good as I expected after my last visit.
The main part of the course was the plant walk on the Saturday with Glenn and Anthony which wasnt very far in distance (5 or 6 miles), but because there was so much to learn it took up a big part of the day. Along the way we collected various wild foodstuffs for eating later. The emphasis was on safety; on clearly identifying plants and on checking more than one reference source as well as harvesting in a sustainable manner. Although there was a lot of stuff to be learnt it never felt rushed and the instructors were more than willing to take on board information from the clients including a use for nettles which I couldnt repeat on a family forum.
I thoroughly enjoyed the walk both for the plant information but also because of the especially beautiful Wiltshire countryside (Im a Moonraker by birth and so possibly biased). It was a long hot day and people were starting to wilt when we entered the cool of a wood to find that a holdall of pigeons was there waiting to be prepped as well as fresh water and pitta breads. Whilst Anthony got the fire going the students prepped the pigeons under Glenns tutelage. Lunch therefore was pigeon pittas using some of the wild foods wed gathered, washed down with larch tea.
In the end it was a long day but a productive one and made the excellent food in the evening (based around duck, rabbit, langoustine and the wild edibles we had foraged during the day) even more appetising.
It wasnt just plant identification; over the weekend there were lessons on trapping and snaring, field preparation of various game, bannock and bread making, use of dutch ovens, cordage making with nettles and various other practical skills. There was even an impromptu flint knapping lesson one evening. Sadly I missed that as Id had an early night and was tucked up asleep in the group shelter (aka the midge motel until I got a fire going).
Joe and the team were at pains throughout the course to ensure that we students were kept occupied though there was never any sense that any activity was compulsory. If you didnt want to field dress pigeons then something less gruesome would be found for you to take part in if you wished or if you wanted you could just sit in the sun and read a book. As we were told at the start of the course we could do as much or as little as we wanted.
Sunday was spent learning many of the skills mentioned above and was rounded off by a test of what wed learnt. There were thirty plants to identify, state if they were edible and note down one fact. It was clear from the final scores that a lot had been learnt and from the good natured ribbing throughout that the students had had a good weekend. After the test it was time to say our goodbyes and Im sure I wasnt the only person who wouldnt have minded if the course had been rather longer.
Friday evening comprised the usual site safety brief, a lesson in putting up a basha for those who wanted to borrow one, a cutting tools lesson and making digging sticks for the next day. The evening meal, a hearty sausage casserole, was as good as I expected after my last visit.
The main part of the course was the plant walk on the Saturday with Glenn and Anthony which wasnt very far in distance (5 or 6 miles), but because there was so much to learn it took up a big part of the day. Along the way we collected various wild foodstuffs for eating later. The emphasis was on safety; on clearly identifying plants and on checking more than one reference source as well as harvesting in a sustainable manner. Although there was a lot of stuff to be learnt it never felt rushed and the instructors were more than willing to take on board information from the clients including a use for nettles which I couldnt repeat on a family forum.
I thoroughly enjoyed the walk both for the plant information but also because of the especially beautiful Wiltshire countryside (Im a Moonraker by birth and so possibly biased). It was a long hot day and people were starting to wilt when we entered the cool of a wood to find that a holdall of pigeons was there waiting to be prepped as well as fresh water and pitta breads. Whilst Anthony got the fire going the students prepped the pigeons under Glenns tutelage. Lunch therefore was pigeon pittas using some of the wild foods wed gathered, washed down with larch tea.
In the end it was a long day but a productive one and made the excellent food in the evening (based around duck, rabbit, langoustine and the wild edibles we had foraged during the day) even more appetising.
It wasnt just plant identification; over the weekend there were lessons on trapping and snaring, field preparation of various game, bannock and bread making, use of dutch ovens, cordage making with nettles and various other practical skills. There was even an impromptu flint knapping lesson one evening. Sadly I missed that as Id had an early night and was tucked up asleep in the group shelter (aka the midge motel until I got a fire going).
Joe and the team were at pains throughout the course to ensure that we students were kept occupied though there was never any sense that any activity was compulsory. If you didnt want to field dress pigeons then something less gruesome would be found for you to take part in if you wished or if you wanted you could just sit in the sun and read a book. As we were told at the start of the course we could do as much or as little as we wanted.
Sunday was spent learning many of the skills mentioned above and was rounded off by a test of what wed learnt. There were thirty plants to identify, state if they were edible and note down one fact. It was clear from the final scores that a lot had been learnt and from the good natured ribbing throughout that the students had had a good weekend. After the test it was time to say our goodbyes and Im sure I wasnt the only person who wouldnt have minded if the course had been rather longer.
