Name: Late Summer Wild Food & Fungi Foraging Walk, Dumfries
Availability: OutOfStock

Description

CORONA VIRUS: THIS EVENT IS CURRENTLY GOING AHEAD AS SCHEDULED

Its viability will be reassessed on 1st August – please check back on this page for updates.

If you are a ticket holder or thinking of booking : Please see information on Corona Virus and Galloway Wild Foods Events

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A guided foray exploring delicious and healthy late summer wild foods of Kirkconnel Flow National Nature Reserve, with a wild cook-in of our finds in the forest afterwards. This event is run in association with (and subsidised by) Scottish Natural Heritage.

August is a great time for fruits, herbs, seeds and early fungi in SW Scotland and this event is designed to make the most of it. Over the course of about 1.5 miles of easy walking over 3 hours we will explore the full range of our late summer wild larder, paying particular attention to fruits of conifer woodland and raised bogs, and hopefully plenty of fungi, assuming our usual wet summer! Novices and experienced foragers looking to increase their repertoire will enjoy this event.

Family friendly – 1.5 miles easy walking for all ages. As with all Galloway Wild Foods events, this walk is guided by Mark Williams who has been teaching about foraging for over 25 years.

Meeting place: Kirkonnel Flow National Nature Reserve, near Dumfries.

Date: Friday 7th August 2020

Start: Arrive in time for a 1pm start

Finish: Around 5.30pm

Expect: Up to 1.5 miles gentle walking on well made paths, occasionally off-piste, over 3 hours followed by and informal al-fresco cook-in of our finds (not a full meal). There will be wild treats and tasters to enjoy throughout.

Learn: Autumn forest and bog plants, trees, herbs and early fungi (usually at least 30 species). Finding, identification, poisonous lookalikes, mindful harvesting, expert tips, folklore/traditional uses, modern gourmet/medicinal uses, nutrition, processing, recipes, cooking tips. We will be accompanied on the walk by Kirkconnel Flow National Nature Reserve Rangers, who will tell us about the rare and fascinating ecology of the area and their conservation work, and we will discuss the importance of thoughtful foraging as a means of restoring the vital connection between humans and nature . When time and weather allow, we lay out and label our finds to serve as a souvenir and aide-memoire of the afternoon’s discoveries.

Eat/drink: It is important to bring the wild foods we encounter to life by not just talking about them, but by eating and drinking them. To this end, in addition to the cook-in at the end, I carry a very hefty bagful of lovingly prepared treats, tasters and tipples to share during the walk. These are both delicious and educational, and the walk is more like guided grazing, a gentle imbibing of the landscape, than a route march! Often we will make a cocktail of the plants we encounter and drink it in a beautiful spot. The cook-in afterwards serves as both an al-fresco cookery demonstration and a social time to eat together and digest the afternoon’s discoveries with new friends. While I don’t bill this as a full meal, most people leave well filled! All dietary requirements can be catered for, provided you add this information when you book.

Bring:

Essential: Stout footwear, weather-appropriate clothing, drinking water

Optional: A small basket or cloth bag, notebook, camera, fungi field guide if you have one

Please read the IMPORTANT INFORMATION tab on this page before booking and again before setting off for the event.

Galloway Wild Foods Gift Vouchers can be used to pay for this event at the checkout.

Please note: This event is not recommend for children under 8 years old. Sorry, no dogs, unless by prior arrangement.

Coconut milkcaps

Please read the following information before booking a Galloway Wild Foods event.

This information applies only to events booked on this website. When booking events involving GWF anywhere other than on this website, the terms and conditions of the vendor apply, which may be different from the following.

Galloway Wild Foods is under no obligation to refund or rebook for no-shows or cancellations within 2 weeks of the event.

In the unlikely event that an event is cancelled by GWF you will receive full refund, exchange or voucher.

The only weather that causes events to be cancelled is dangerous wind. In these instances you will be notified as early as possible.

Please provide the following information for all members of your party in the “Additional Information” box on the payment page :

Medical conditions
Mobility issues
Eating restrictions – differentiating between preferences (e.g. vegetarian), intolerances (e.g. gluten intolerance) and serious allergies (e.g. peanut allergy). All requirements can usually be catered for, but these differentiations are required for risk assessments.

Please ensure that all members of your party come suitably dressed for the weather, season and event.

On all walks, for your comfort and safety, walking boots/wellies, waterproofs and spare clothes are necessary. I always recommend wellies for coastal foraging events – you are likely to get wet feet if you don’t have them!

Please bring your own drinking water.

Your learning and enjoyment may also benefit from bringing a camera, notebook, field guide, small basket/cloth bag. Feel free to bring along any of your own wild food preparations to share and talk about.

My very friendly, calm dog occasionally accompanies me on guided walks. He is not a distraction, and often adds to the entertainment as he tends to like to copy my foraging antics! If you have a specific aversion to dogs, please check with me before booking – I don’t necessarily need to bring him. The one thing that makes him more of a handful is other dogs (he will constantly want to play with them, especially if they are ladies!), so please check in with me first if you might like to bring your own dog.

Please contact mark on mark@gallowaywildfoods.com or 07900 692 478 if you have specific questions that are not answered here, or if you are running late on the day.