Haikus of a Forager
Poems and Reflections from Nature
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.
Table of Contents
Hawthorne Blossom
Turkey Tail
Cleavers (aka “Stickyweed”)
Wild Garlic
Sloes
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;
vampires 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.
Elderflower
The natural world.
It is wise when we are not.
Respect our elders.
While I have no experience in cooking and consuming the actual berries (they cannot be eaten raw!), I do have experience in making elderflower cordial from the flowers, which was incredibly refreshing. I’m keen at some point to leave the “ferment” for longer and produce some elderflower champagne.
Chicken Of The Woods
Are you clucking mad?
That mushroom looks just too rad!
Stop pecking at it!
I have only ever found Chicken Of The Woods twice in my travels. Once, it was too high up on an old oak tree to reach. The second time, however, it was enough for me and
, who was with me at the time, to pick a bunch and sautee it with some wild garlic for lunch. It tasted incredible.Bilberry
Small but mighty sweet,
dominating the moorlands
that housed my childhood.
Like their cousin, the blueberry, bilberries are noted for their incredibly high content of antioxidants. Unlike blueberries, however, they are generally not deemed commercially viable to farm because of their small size. That’s a shame, because to me these taste even better than blueberries, and I enjoy adding them into crumbles or simply eating them as I go on a walk!
If you enjoyed this piece, I made a follow-up with more haikus and foragable goodies, which you can find below:
Thank you for taking the time to read this piece. I hope it inspired something within you.
With gratitude,
Tom
