When I’m in need of some downtime and reconnection with nature, one of my favourite activities is to go on foraging hikes. I love being able to find wild-grown foods and use them in all manner of ways. And at a time when so much of what’s happening in the world is deliberately drawing us away from this natural connection, it’s something that I feel so many more people could benefit from.
To cross this love of mine over with my love of poetry, I’ve picked some of my favourite things to forage and written a haiku for each one. I’ll also mention some of the things that I personally like doing with them, whether its to go into teas or to add flavours to a meal. Note that this isn’t a guide on how to identify things, but if you’re in the UK, I can highly recommend The Forager’s Calendar for those looking to get started.
The first five will be available for all subscribers, then there will be another three only be available to my paid subscribers, in recognition of the support they provide me. If you’d like to help keep me fed so I can keep making pieces like this, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
I am open to creating a second instalment of this piece, as there’s plenty of other things I love to forage but that didn’t quite make this list. Leave a comment if you’d be interested to see more.
Table of Contents
For everyone:
Hawthorne Blossom
Turkey Tail
Cleavers (aka “Stickyweed”)
Wild Garlic
Sloes
For paid subscribers only:
Elderflower
Chicken Of The Woods
Bilberry
Hawthorne Blossom
After cold winters,
white fire flowers within us.
Bloom, little heart, bloom.
One of my favourite teas to make around late spring is a fresh hawthorne tea, taking a few of the blossoms and leaves and letting to brew into an incredibly nourishing tea. If I need a little moment of relaxation in the day, this tea becomes a go-to as my companion for that. It also has a long history in native medicines as an effective plant in managing heart and digestive issues.
Turkey Tail
A turkey tail tea:
better than Christmas dinner,
improves noodle soup.
Being so abundant compared to other mushroom types, I’m surprised I don’t see more people taking them and turning them into tea. And, with the amount of antioxidants, beta-glucans and all sorts of other good nutrients in them, I essentially treat these as my natural multi-vitamin, having at least one cup of tea with turkey tails in them a day.
Cleavers (aka Stickyweed)
Once stuck to my back
on school trips in the outdoors.
Now they won’t let go.
I have cleavers to thank as helping me create a much-needed hangover remedy while at a festival. Cleaver tonics are packed with Vitamin C and also help get the lymphatic system flowing optimally. I hear the young heads make for good additions in a salad, although I am yet to try this!
Wild Garlic
Feel it in your blood;
wampires only target those
with gunk in their veins.
Wild garlic is one of the things I have some of the earliest memories foraging as a kid, where there was a large abundance of it growing near to one of my friend’s house. Since he introduced it to me, I make sure to pick up some whenever I can, whether it’s to make a wild pesto or in anything that benefits from garlic, like chili or stir fries.
Sloes
Every so often,
we slow the passage of time
and feel euphoric.
Sloes are, of course, notorious for their use in making sloe gin - something we’ve had a lot of fun doing together as a family in the past. It makes for a fantastic drink, but I like to go a step further and turn the steeped berries - which now carry some of the gin flavour - and turn them into a jam. To date, it is still the best-tasting jam I have ever had in my life.