Foraging

 

Foraging is never guaranteed to be successful; yes, you can improve your chances of success with knowledge and experience, although you're always at the mercy of a myriad of factors beyond your control or understanding. Of course it may simply not be your day and someone else is returning home after having a successful days gathering, it could just be right place wrong time, or maybe it's that others needs are greater; this year I've seen a lot more Ceps nibbled by tiny teeth than I'd usually, I imagine it's been a difficult year for many of the forest's inhabitants and I'm certainly not going to begrudge them their fill. I used to be disappointed if I returned from a foraging mission empty handed; not so much these days though, I'm just grateful for whatever I get to put in my bag. Anyway, even an unproductive forage isn't a fruitless exercise; you connect with the land, you connect with the seasons, you connect with the ancestors and with a facet of what being a human used to be about. Of course I'm aware that I'm talking with the luxury of being a human removed from necessity by modernity, and I may well view things less philosophically if compelled by necessity. Which I've been thinking a lot about lately in light of societies direction of travel, and the growing possibility of food insecurity and food poverty; it may be that an understanding of wild food resources and foraging skills once again becomes valuable knowledge to hold.