27: Forage
For this week's #52climatesolutions, we invite you to FORAGE! Recipes include wild weed pesto & elderflower cordial + our favourite resources for foraging.
Australia’s food supply system is fragile. As we have seen in recent years, the survival of Australia’s population is highly dependent upon continued supply of food from major supermarket chains. But during disaster, such as fire, flood or pandemic, the links to food supply can get broken (or demand might exceed supply). Despite Australia producing enough food to feed three times its population (a lot gets exported), people have struggled, at times, to source basic food supplies at their regular supermarkets. The cost of transportation and refrigeration has increased costs of food and the emissions created by this method of non-localised food provision are excessive.
When essential services such as food supply are jeopardised, the focus of a population tends to shift away from environmental causes. This presents a real risk to our ability to take appropriate action on climate change. We need food systems that support our basic needs and allow us to have additional physical and mental capacity to tackle other issues. But as climate change or other calamities become more frequent, we may be simply fighting to stay alive. So, we need systems that are foolproof.
A resilient society is one that has redundancy built into it. When one part of the system fails, there should be other processes and systems ready to fill that gap and keep society functioning well. Some under-utilised ways to potentially provide food include farmer’s markets, small independent shops, farm gate sales, growing your own food, bartering, crop swaps, and the topic of this week’s #52climatesolutions – foraging! Many of these remain fringe activities but should be normalised.
Foraging can placate the scarcity mindset that leads to panic shopping. Foraging can support a decentralised food supply system that is more likely to cope through broad scale calamities. Foraging provides a fun kind of safety net that can improve one’s sense of place. It can also supplement and support your diet when money is scarce.
There is often more publicly available food around than people realise. Many towns and suburbs have areas considered ‘marginal’, such as along creeks, roadsides and council reserves. Here, one might find edible weeds, fruit trees, rose hips, berries, flowers, herbs, seaweed, mushrooms – even edible roadkill. What food could you forage near you? Consider foraging as part of daily exercise and strengthen your food resilience.
Tips for good foraging:
Go with someone who knows their stuff - this can really help you get your eye in for what’s good and safe, quickly.
Carry a guide book with you when you’re on your own. If you’re unsure, bring it home, and spend more time looking and learning before consuming.
Check that the site you’re foraging from hasn’t been sprayed. Most councils will sign or mark areas they spray, and spray them out of fruiting and foraging season, but it’s well worth checking.
Best to leave greens growing in heavy traffic areas - exhaust fumes aren’t so great. Look for marginal zones with low traffic for healthier eating. Likewise for seaweed - choose unpolluted open water for good foraging.
Take a spare bag with you wherever you go. And snips if you think you might need them! Food can be found when you least expect it!
Only take what you need. Make sure to leave food for other foragers, pollinators, and for fruit and seed to set.
Here are some of our fave recipes for using foraged foods, some resources for good foraging, and this week’s colouring page:
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