Introduction to Foraging Course, Sheffield

Children under 12 come free. Well-behaved dogs on a lead are also more than welcome.

What to expect

This course will cover the best ways to start and progress through the early stages of your foraging journey. We will take a two-and-a-half-hour walk (covering about two miles) around some woodland and along the River Don, stopping regularly to discuss (and where possible, eat!) the many edible goodies we find along the way, whether that be foliage, flowers, fruits, nuts or mushrooms! What we’ll find depends on the time of year. The route is mostly flat and we’ll go at a steady pace.

The main focus will be foraging for wild food, but we will also touch upon medicinal or "bushcraft" uses if relevant to what we find.

The course will include:

• A brief introduction to myself and foraging in general.
• Finding and discussing around 20 species common across the UK that have food uses.
• How to identify the species we come across.
• Information about toxic species to avoid.
• Foraging laws and principles to ensure you forage legally, safely and responsibly.
• Trying a couple of pre-prepared wild food-based samples!

I also follow up the course with an email to participants with a summary of the species we found and other useful information such as my recommended books for further reading.

Making foraging fun and safe

Foraging is fun and fascinating, with so many benefits it's unbelievable. It's as safe as anything when approached with the right level of caution, awareness, and knowledge. It’s important to realise however that foraging can be dangerous IF you approach it with a lack of caution (recklessness), and/or a lack of awareness of the risks and without the respect nature deserves. During the course, I will show you how to approach foraging in a way whereby you don't just minimise but eliminate all risks, so you are free to enjoy the many benefits that foraging brings into your life.

Log in to nature

Humans have been foraging as a way to survive for hundreds of thousands of years. Before farming, this was how we survived - finding what nature provided in harmony with the seasons and the land. This period before farming forms over 95 per cent of our existence as a species, so to our brains and bodies, foraging is incredibly natural - this is one of the reasons it feels so good!

Foraging is one of the best ways to disconnect from our busy modern lives of emails, social media and technology, and reconnect with nature and our ancestral roots. During this course we will log off from the modern world and log in to nature!

Meeting point and parking

For this course, we’ll meet at the end of Beeley Wood Lane (S6 1QT), where it meets Beeley Wood, by the Public Footpath sign just before the entrance to the business site "Abbey Forged Products".

A postcode to get you to the general area is S6 1QT, though please note that following this postcode on Google Maps (and other Sat Navs) will NOT take you to the exact meeting point. Therefore, to get to where we are meeting and starting, please instead use the Google Maps “dropped pin” link below.

Dropped pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZMQ6SxmAi3p988Bz5?g_st=ic

For parking, you can park on the side of Beeley Wood Lane anywhere near to the meeting point.

I will be waiting at the meeting point from at least 9:55 AM.

I recommend you bring

• Comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing and footwear. The path and route we take is about two miles in total and is mainly flat and a mostly even path. However, it's still a woodland environment, and we won’t always be on the smooth concrete path that goes through the woodland, so please ensure you have appropriate footwear, as small sections could be muddy and uneven.
• Your phone but only for the camera function should you wish to take any photos/videos/notes. I will however send out an email at the end of the course with a list of the species we come across.
• Some water or other kind of hydrating drink if you wish.

About me

The Forager Within, founded by James Hill, runs public and private foraging courses across Yorkshire and Manchester. His love of foraging started on nature walks with his parents, where picking wild food was just a way of life. In adulthood, James hit a low point in 2015 which re-ignited a passion for foraging. By the Spring of 2016, foraging was a hobby, an obsession, and then in 2022, a business with a mission to connect people to nature and improve physical and mental health in the process.