Do your research

Firstly research your local marketing opportunities. There will be many poultry keepers looking to do exactly the same as you so it is best to check out the competition in your area. Some markets, for example, only allow a certain amount of stalls selling the same produce so if that quota is already full then this avenue will be closed to you. There may also be local box schemes or other competition that you should be aware of before you make your offering. If market conditions are crowded then perhaps offering a slightly different product could help you stand out from the crowd. Unusual colours or eggs from poultry such as ducks, geese or quails can all be a unique selling point that will help you gain advantage. Eggs from more unusual or exotic birds may give you a USP in a crowded marketplace Most Pocket Farm readers will be glad to know that a flock of under 50 birds does not have to be registered to sell at the gate, door-to-door or at a farmers’ market. Neither do you have to mark your eggs with a producer code so staying below this threshold certainly keeps restrictions to a minimum. Note: some markets have their own local rules about marking eggs so please check with the administrator prior to sale.

Rules for markets

If you are selling at a public market then you will need to display your name and address clearly on the stall. You are also required to display a best before date of not more than 28 days from the day of lay and advice on how to store the eggs. Storage advice can be as simple as ‘keep refrigerated after purchase’. Eggs should be collected regularly and nest boxes kept clean to avoid them getting too dirty. You should not clean them as this removes the natural bloom that helps to seal the eggs and keep them fresh for longer. While customers will expect the occasional scuff of dirt on their fresh eggs any heavily soiled or cracked eggs should be kept for your own use. You should never knowingly sell a cracked egg. You should also keep your eggs in a cool, dry location before sale to prolong freshness. If you keep more than 50 poultry at any time, and this applies to any mix of birds, you are required to register with the Great Britain Poultry Register. They can be contacted on 0800 634 1112 and you will be sent a registration form. You can also download the form here. As mentioned earlier, keepers with less than 50 birds are not required to register but are encouraged to do so in able to receive up to date information on the spread of disease.

Larger flocks and selling to the trade

If you have more than 50 birds and are selling at a public market (or to a packing centre which is unlikely at this scale) you must also register with DEFRA’s Egg Marketing Inspectorate (EMI); however, you will not be required to stamp or grade your eggs for this purpose. If you wish to sell to shops or the catering trade, you must register with the EMI and must be approved as a packing centre to be able to grade your eggs Class A which is the requirement for this purpose. You are also required to stamp your eggs with a code specifying the method of production, country of origin and your establishment code. Again, it is unlikely that many Pocket Farm readers will be in this bracket, but if you are looking to move up to large scale production then it’s worth knowing.

Packaging

It is acceptable to re-use clean egg boxes from supermarkets and you can save a few pence by doing this but plain boxes are available cheaply from many suppliers and are easily sourced on the internet. These also have the advantage that they can be customised with your own message or contact details for increased brand awareness if required. TIP: Buying in bulk hugely reduces the unit cost of egg boxes. It’s great fun selling your own produce and especially rewarding if you start to build up repeat business via word-of-mouth recommendations so I would certainly encourage you to explore this extra potential revenue stream and give it a go. The rules for selling meat and other perishable products are much more complex and these will be covered in later articles.

So forget 5 gold rings here are “5 wild things” to include in your Christmas celebrations.

1. Wood Avens Geum urbanum

This extremely common woodland, hedgerow and even garden plant is quite inconspicuous at this time of year but can be found throughout the winter. Although the young leaves can be eaten it is the roots we are after. They are not particularly big but when washed and dried the smell and taste like the spice cloves and can be used in the same way. They are more subtle than true cloves but the flavour is identical, add to your bread sauce, mulled wine, mince pies and Christmas pud.

2. Hogweed Heracleum sphondyllium

This member of the carrot family is found everywhere; on roadsides, footpaths, woodland edge etc. The above ground parts have mostly died off by this time of year but no worries as it is the dried seeds on the old dead flower heads that we are after. They are very similar in taste to the spice cardamom and just as strong. Toast and grind and add to curries (think left over turkey), flavour deserts, make spiced coffee by adding to espresso or use in your mulled wine, and mince pies alongside the Wood Aven roots.
Caution: This family contains some extremely toxic plants so be certain to make sure you have correctly identified this one. The dead stems are about 2 metres tall, jointed and ridged and the seeds should smell of cardamom when crushed.

3. Ground Ivy Glechoma hederacea

Most of our wild herbs such as mint, wild marjoram and wild basil have died back by this time of year and although wild thyme can still be found on chalk grassland it is so small it is difficult to find. Ground Ivy however can be found all year round in woodland, hedgerows and gardens. Its flavour has mint and sage like properties. Use it in soups and sauces or add it to your Christmas stuffing.

4. Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii

Believe it or not but your Christmas tree is edible! Most Christmas trees are either species of spruce or fir and all can be used as a flavouring. The best one to use is Douglas Fir which has more of a citrus like flavour rather than the disinfectant qualities that the others can have. Simply crush and smell the leaves to see. Infuse the small twigs with plenty of needles in hot water and use as the basis for stocks and sauces for savoury dishes or cook your potatoes in the water to add a subtle citrus flavour. Add to mulled wine instead of orange peel. Gently crush the needles and place in caster sugar to get flavoured sugar, or infuse in hot sugar syrup for 24 hours and then use to make jellies or sorbets.
Yew is superficially similar but is lethally toxic. It has darker, broader flat leaves with no scent when crushed.

5. Sweet Woodruff Gallium odoratum

This is one of my favourite wild plants. Not as common as some of the others it usually can be found in shady woodland on calcium rich soils and will be around unless there is heavy snow. When fresh the plant has very little smell but pick it and take it indoors and as it dries it starts to release an incredible scent, described as the smell of new mown hay it has vanilla and almond like properties. Once completely dried it will keep indefinitely, use it like vanilla to flavour custards, panacotta and milk puddings. It also has an affinity with apples and can be used in apple pies or to flavour apple juice.

When foraging any wild plant make sure you are 100% confident with its identification. Pick only from safe areas away from busy roads and which are not likely to be contaminated with herbicides etc. Pick only from areas where you are legally allowed to pick and do not uproot any plant without the land owners permission. Follow the country code.

Kevan Palmer is Senior Instructor at Woodland Ways one of the largest providers of bushcraft & survival courses in the UK.

The matter of flavour

While fruit and vegetables in supermarkets may have been selected for their looks, their taste is often lacking. Supermarket tomatoes are a prime example of this; you don’t get the sweet and intense flavour their bright red appearance would suggest. By selecting those tomatoes that ripen evenly and at the same time, this inadvertently means selecting those in which there is reduced photosynthesis and as a result less sugar is produced within the fruits; a completely different story to those available from a small local grower. Equally, refrigerating fresh items might help to extend their shelf life in the supermarket, allowing produce to maintain their appearance for as long as possible, but it does nothing for the taste of cold-sensitive items such as tomatoes, plums, peaches and pears. While supermarkets might not be able to use flavour enhancers with fresh fruit and vegetables, it’s a different matter for those that are processed; think of the peaches canned in syrup, the tinned sweetcorn with added sugar and salt, and those that make their way into ready meals with all manner of natural and artificial additives. In these instances, the nutritional quality has been taken down a peg or two through the extra additions; it’ true that some of these do act as preservatives, but they also encourage our consumption of sometimes less than flavoursome items owing to the time lapsed since they were harvested.

Nutritional quality

Research indicates that there is a lower content of phytonutrients in farmed produce than that found in the wild – these are the plant nutrients believed to protect against the likes of heart disease, cancer and dementia – so even if we make the effort to include the correct balance of foods in our diets they may still not be as nutritious as they could be if sourced correctly too. It appears that selecting produce with the best aesthetics has reduced its nutritional profile. On top of this, the practice of supermarkets sourcing much of their fresh produce from outside the UK – just 20% of the tomatoes sold are  for instance – means that fruit and vegetables already depleted in nutrients lose even more during the days or weeks it may take to reach the supermarket shelves after picking owing to the “food miles” they have had to travel. The items available at your local farm shop or from someone with a smallholding may not be perfectly formed on the outside, but what they offer nutritionally can be far greater.

Maximising your intake

A healthier diet therefore isn’t just about eating more fruit and vegetables, the types you opt for and where they come from are also important considerations. Opting for varieties more akin to wild plants such as scallions and ensuring you obtain these from small-scale local growers – or those that you have grown yourself – can enhance the quality of your diet significantly. Storing your fruit and vegetables correctly once harvested and avoiding overcooking are also vital to minimise loss of nutrients. Considering aspects of your lifestyle can also ensure that the nutrients in the produce you eat can provide maximum benefit. For instance, smokers have higher vitamin C requirements – around twice that of non-smokers – owing to the role of this vitamin in neutralising some of the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke. By quitting smoking you therefore allow the vitamin C from your diet to be available for its other functions, which include its role in maintaining the health of the skin, bones circulation and immune system.

Produce that packs a greater nutritional punch isn’t the only benefit from supporting smaller local growers or setting aside a patch in your own garden. Knowing where your food comes from is increasingly important to people, which is a given when buying directly from the grower. Organic farming is also more widely embraced by small-scale growers, providing peace of mind for those wishing to avoid residues from pesticides on their produce; this also appeals to environmentally conscious shoppers as well. In a time when the supermarkets are stocked with so many processed items – and even the fresh produce may be artificially enhanced – there is something reassuring about being able to source your food direct from growers providing substance over style as opposed to the other way around.

A macrobiotic (meaning ‘long’ or ‘big’ ‘life’) diet is actually a lifestyle choice that, in its strictest form, can involve eating little more than brown rice and water. Unsurprisingly, this extreme form has been linked to nutritional deficiencies and more commonly today a macrobiotic diet will consist of 40 to 60 percent whole grains, 20 to 30 percent locally grown and organic vegetables, five to ten percent soups (miso), five to ten percent beans/legumes, five percent sea vegetables and five percent other more traditional or naturally processed foods. Fish/seafood, nuts, seeds, seasonings and fruit may also be included in limited amounts.

The emphasis for modern macrobiotics is on a more balanced approach. The Japanese talk of this in terms of yin and yang which are the opposing forces they believe effect all aspects of our lives. Whole grains such as brown rice, millet, rye and buckwheat are the closest to being in balance or neutral which is why they make up the bulk of the intake.

While nothing should be considered completely out of bounds, animal products such as red meat, eggs, poultry and dairy are considered extremely yang whereas refined sugars, chocolate, honey, coffee, coloured tea, alcohol and hot spices are highly yin. These foods as well as refined flour and grains and artificially processed foods are generally consumed only in moderation or avoided completely to avoid yo-yoing between the extremes.

A lot of importance is also attached to the way food is cooked. For example, roasting and smoking intensifies the ‘energy’ in food and is more suited to the winter months but for spring or summer stir frying or blanching produces a lighter, more airy, energy – all fairly obvious really when you think about. Followers of a macrobiotic diet will always cook their own food as opposed to using pre-prepared food.

There are general aspects of a macrobiotic diet which many of you may already be following, especially if you have a vegetable plot or allotment of your own. These include eating local organic produce, eating foods according to the season, chewing food thoroughly and not over-eating. The idea of a wholefood diet is to achieve a state of feeling nourished as opposed to just full and to head toward a more alkaline blood PH rather than the acidic one that is a feature of our modern dietary habits.

Extreme diet regimes such as brown rice and water only (mentioned earlier) are rarely beneficial and certainly wouldn’t be recommended for certain groups such as children or pregnant women who have special dietary requirements. However a more relaxed approach to macrobiotics is far less restrictive and with a little effort wholefoods can be adopted or incorporated into your usual diet very effectively.

The aim of a macrobiotic lifestyle is to achieve a state of balance in body, mind and emotions and there is a lot of information available if you decide to study it more closely. However, simply following the ethos of eating seasonal, locally grown, organic foods will benefit your health, the environment and the local economy too.

Starting with our slant on the classic Eastern European beetroot soup Borscht, Pocket Farm will be publishing a selection of macrobiotic and wholefood recipes for you to try in the coming weeks. These will contain interesting and unusual ingredients to get to grips with. Give them a try and let us know what you think.

Cancer cure?

The macrobiotic diet has also been advocated as a cure for cancer, however, while aspects of a macrobiotic diet may be beneficial in the fight against some types of cancer, there is no medical evidence that would support its use as an exclusive means of treatment.

As I look over the dessert menu my friend puts hers down with a brave smile and tells the waitress she won’t be having a dessert,thank you. Moments earlier I had noticed her glance at the table next to ours where a couple were lovingly sharing warm chocolate fudge brownies. Just for a second, there was love in her eyes too and a little part of me wondered why it was that she couldn’t just enjoy a dessert once in a while without feeling guilty.

Don’t get me wrong, I am truly an advocate of healthy eating and healthy living but I am also a great believer in the holistic approach; a healthy mind, body and soul. I believe it’s about balance and although healthy lifestyle choices are important perhaps just as important is making them enjoyable and achievable.

Our apparent over enjoyment of high fat, high salt, high sugar, over processed foods has ultimately lead to increasing levels of obesity and heart disease in this country. This, in turn, has drawn an enormous amount of focus on our eating habits and we are bombarded with dietary advice telling us which foods we shouldn’t be eating and how much harm they are doing us in an attempt to help us to make healthier choices. We all know that we should check food labels for sugar, salt and fat content and that we really must try and squeeze in our ‘five-a –day’ even if it means counting a strawberry flavoured milkshake as one. In our attempts to get fit and stay fit we follow diets that ban all our favourite treats, but might this only serve to make them more desirable and thus increase our guilt even further?

If our enjoyment of eating has been lost, is it only because our focus appears to be centered on the food that is making us unhealthy? Eating has become a battle between nutritional advice and our love of ‘naughty’ food. So why has eating healthily become such a chore? Have we really forgotten how to enjoy good, healthy, nutritious food? Why have microwave meals, takeaways and snacks become part of our everyday lives?

Convenience? Maybe, but is healthy eating solely about eating healthily? In a society where we are lucky enough to have such an abundance of good, nutritious natural and unprocessed foods available should it not be about the wider food experience?

Researching new recipes, shopping for new ingredients, preparing home cooked meals, no matter how simple, and sitting down at the table with your family or friends to enjoy the fruits of your labour introduces a little celebration into everyday eating. You may find knowing that you have prepared and cooked a meal that is giving your body the vitamins and minerals it needs an inspiration in itself but the more you enjoy a balanced diet and the more it becomes a part of your everyday lifestyle the more benefits you will reap from it.

Maybe then we can really start to enjoy food. Remember most of the foods that we label unhealthy are only actually doing us harm if we eat them to excess and, by focusing on a balanced diet everyday, if we occasionally fancy chocolate fudge brownies at a restaurant we should be able to eat them without the tinge of guilt. But, you may be too busy enjoying the fruit salad anyway.

The science bit

A balanced must contain the correct nutrients required for good health and in the appropriate portions.

Current recommendations are that a certain number of portions a day are eaten from each of the 5 main food groups;

Proportion of each food group that you should aim for each day

Bread, rice, cereal and pasta (50-60% of daily calorie intake, approx 6-10 portions)

Fruit and vegetables (5 portions a day)

Meat and fish (2-3 portions a day)

Dairy produce (2-3 servings a day)

Fats, oils and sweets (very minimal intake)

What”s a portion?

Bread, rice, cereal and pasta
One slice of bread, two crackers or 30g cereal

Fruit/Veg
One apple or banana, 100g vegetables, 125ml fruit juice.

Meat, Fish
One egg, 80g lean cooked meat

Dairy
250ml milk or yoghurt, 50g cheese

Certain groups of individuals may require slightly different proportions to the above e.g pregnant/lactating women will have a higher energy requirement and would therefore benefit from increased carbohydrates in their diet.

Carbohydrates are found in a wide variety of foods e.g bread, biscuits, pasta, fruit and vegetables and are primarily used by the body for energy.

Proteins are found in meat, fish, milk, eggs, soya beans, vegetables, cereals, pulses and some milk products and are primarily used for growth and repair of body cells and tissues.

Fats are found in milk, cheese, butter, eggs, meat, oily fish, margarines and vegetable oils and are used in many functions of the body including the provision of energy/heat, insulation and the transportation/storage of some important vitamins.

A healthy balanced diet also needs to ensure a good intake of important and essential vitamins and minerals. It should include fibre (to help with the digestion process) and plenty of water.

What would you say though if you knew that pound for pound nettles are one of the most nutritious plants around – jam packed full of vitamins A and C, with a high proportion of iron, calcium and other minerals and around 6% protein? What then if you knew that nettles can also be used to make a natural plant feed, have numerous medicinal uses and can even be used to make an incredibly strong string that can be used for everything from garden twine to a bow string?

Hopefully you are beginning to see nettles in a slightly different light but if you need more convincing here are 8 ways they can genuinely make amends for any previous indiscretions. And, if you still don’t fancy tackling the stinging variety, there are several varieties of dead-nettle that look similar to their more aggressive cousins, can be used in the pot and don’t sting at all.

Collect only from areas where they are unlikely to have been contaminated by car fumes, pesticides or dog wee. Use young shoots whole as they reach usable size in late February to early March but as they get taller you should only harvest the top few leaves. The season finishes in early June when, although they will still be abundant, they become bitter and crystalline and may have a laxative effect if eaten. Pick with rubber gloves on to avoid the discomfort of the inevitable sting.

1. Soup or as a substitute for spinach in any recipe

The classic use for nettles in cooking is soup but you can use it as a substitute for spinach however you wish. You’ll be relieved to know that the sting completely disappears when cooked. You can find a tasty and nutritious nettle soup recipe here.

2. Nettle Tea

Soak a few leaves in boiling water removing them as the water becomes tinted green for a light and refreshing tea that has also been used traditionally to help with aches and pains, asthma, digestive and urinary tract disorders and anaemia among other things. You can dry and store nettle leaves for use at a later date. Serve with a squeeze of lemon or honey.

3. Beer and wine

Nettles can also provide the basis for some very acceptable tipples. The internet is full of ideas, have a search around for one that takes your fancy.

4. Plant feed

If there are nettles growing on it then you can be fairly sure that a patch of earth is nutrient rich and ready for cultivating. Use any nettle plants you clear as a nitrogen-rich homemade plant feed for what you plant in its place. Simply mix crushed up nettles with water in a large container ensuring that they are fully submerged and leave for a month or so to stew. The resulting, rather smelly, solution can then be strained, diluted 10-1 with water and used as liquid plant food.

5. Ladybird crèche

Nettles are where ladybirds lay their eggs so if you have some in your garden you will benefit from their pest controlling larvae when they hatch to devour whitefly and red spider mite. They are also a great favourite with aphids so while they are feeding on your nettles they will be well away from your other, more valuable, plants.

6. Compost heap activator

If nothing else just mix the leaves in with the other contents of your compost heap and let this rich source of nitrogen act as a natural activity booster.

7. Cordage

Who better than wilderness legend Ray Mears to show you how to use nettles to make a very strong and useful string from nettle fibres? This is ideal for use as an alternative to garden string. The fibres can actually be processed further and spun into a very durable thread that can be woven into fabric. Nettle fibre was even used for German uniforms in the First World War.

8. Medicinal uses

There are far too many medicinal uses for nettles to cover in detail here but as well as the ones mentioned above drinking nettle tea can be beneficial for sore throat, arthritis, high blood pressure and for cleansing the blood. An infusion made from 50g of fresh leaves in a pint of water can also be used to soothe burns and sores.

Jelly Ear

This distinctive looking fungi can be found all year round especially in damp weather. It grows on a range of dead deciduous trees but is found most frequently on dead Elder. It looks just like a pink-brown fleshy human ear. Although it can be used fresh it does have a rather chewy texture. They are popular in Chinese cooking and are best if dried first and then crumbled into small pieces ready to rehydrate and add to dishes later. Only collect Jelly Ears while they are soft, they go hard with age at which point they are past their best for culinary use. Cannot really be mistaken for anything else.

St George’s Mushroom

Named because it appears on or around St George’s Day (April 23rd). One of only a few good edible spring mushrooms. Found in pastures, road verges, hedgerows and woodland edge. Sometimes grows in rings. Starts with a white domed cap which flattens and turns pale tan as it ages. Has a strong, mealy smell especially when young. The gills are the same colour as the cap and it has white spores. There is only one poisonous species which fruits at the same time that it can be confused with which is the Livid Entoloma. It is uncommon but can grow in the same locations as the St George’s Mushroom. This has pale yellow gills which darken to flesh colour when mature and the spores are pink. The St George’s has a strong flavour, especially when older, but if this is to your taste it can be used in much the same way as the common field mushroom.

Charcoal Burner

This member of the Russula family (pic at the top of the article) gets its name from the fact that the different shades of colour on the cap are supposedly similar to the colours given by burning charcoal. The cap which starts of domed becomes flattened with a depression in the middle with age. The colour is very variable but is usually a mixture of grey, blues and purples, with green, brown and yellow in the centre. The stem, gills and spores are white. There are a few other Russula species which it could be mistaken for but none are considered toxic. It can be found from June to October, particularly in Beech woodland. Retains its firm texture even after cooking.

The Deceiver and Amethyst Deceiver

These two closely related species are often found growing together in large numbers in Autumn in deciduous woodland. They have a small flat cap, often with a depression in the middle. The stem is thin and quite fibrous and the gills are thick and widely spaced. The stem and gills are the same colour as the cap which is dull brown ageing to pale brown for the Deceiver and violet ageing to light brown for the Amethyst Deceiver. There are other brown and lilac coloured mushrooms with which they can be confused, some of which are poisonous, however, the thick gills and flattened cap of Deceivers are quite distinctive. Not a particularly strong flavour but they dry out and keep well.

Velvet Shanks

These are one of the few mushroom species to be found in the depths of winter appearing on dead wood particularly Ash, Elm and Gorse. They grow in clusters and have sticky, flat caps ranging from yellow to red-orange in colour. There are other species which look similar, some of which are toxic but in the Winter especially they are unlikely to be confused as there is little else that will survive the frosts . Velvet Shanks can be distinguished by their tough, hollow stems which are pale at the top and darken to dark brown or black at the base and are covered in a velvety down. Discard the stalks and clean the sticky caps thoroughly before adding a stews.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that while we do our best to ensure the accuracy of information on this website Pocket Farm does not take responsibility for any illness or injury that may ensue from ingesting misidentified wild food. This is especially important with mushrooms which have many similar looking varieties some of which are very poisonous. We recommend that you purchase a book specifically published for the identification of fungi and, if you are in any way unsure of the species you have harvested, do not take the risk in eating them.

Kevan Palmer is Senior Instructor at Woodland Ways on of the largest providers of bushcraft & survival courses in the UK. Photos of Charcoal Burner, St George’s and Amethyst Deceiver courtesy of Alec Pinkstone.

Add to this its potential to host the fungal disease ‘crayfish plague’ which, while harmless to humans, can be deadly to the white-clawed crayfish and its destructive burrowing habits which undermine riverbanks and you will see how it might be easily considered aquatic public enemy number one.

It does have one redeeming feature though as, even in the face of rudimentary culinary skills, this trans-Atlantic invader readily cooks up into a variety of very tasty dishes.

With all these facts taken into consideration you might have thought it would be open-season for signal crayfish but you still need to obtain the proper consent from the Environment Agency before heading off to catch them. This consent is free but you will need to complete a form (Form CR1: Application to trap and/or remove crayfish) which asks specifically about the area you want to fish, when and how you intend to catch them and for what purpose. You need to apply even if the water you plan to fish is privately owned. If you intend to use traps, as opposed to hand or drop nets, they also need to meet a specification in order to avoid catching other protected creatures such as otters. You are very unlikely to be allowed to set traps where a vole population exists. If you are successful in your application you will receive consent and tags for your traps, where necessary, through the post. Remember that you will also need to obtain permission from the land owner or authority that controls the water you intend to fish. It is probably a good idea to do this first rather than be denied at a later date as, for instance, the Canals and Rivers Trust have a blanket policy of not allowing crayfishing on any of its waters. Finally, you need to tell the Environment Agency about your catches on a Catch Return Form which should come with your consent.

All licensed and ready to go – permission and trap tags from the EA

With the formalities now taken care of you are ready to go crayfishing. An oily fish head or piece of bacon in a well placed net or trap will soon bring them thronging in – sometimes in surprising numbers. I have even seen them pulled out of a river without a net at all just clutching to a piece of smoked bacon tied to a weighted string. It is suggested that they are killed humanely at the place of capture but if you intend to eat them it is best to let them flush themselves through in clean water for at least 24 hours. If you do take them home alive remember that it is illegal to return them or let them escape back into the waterways.

You will find a delicious recipe for a crayfish, mango and chilli salad here.

For more information visit the Environment agency website here.

• Don’t eat any plant or fungi unless you have made a 100% positive identification. Try to match a least three points of identification as many poisonous plants look very similar to other perfectly edible ones. There is no substitute for experience so if you are not sure try to get someone who is more familiar with wild food to help you identify it. If in any doubt don’t take the chance
• Eat only small amounts of any new plant to test your tolerance – some plants may not necessarily be poisonous but may still disagree with you
• Forage from areas which haven’t been sprayed with chemicals and are not close to well used walkways
• Do not forage alongside busy roads
• Do not trespass to obtain plants
• Observe local bylaws if picking plants is prohibited
• Do not uproot a plant without the land owners permission – in fact, unless you are using the root, it is always best to try and leave the plant in a position whereby it can still regenerate.
• Only take what you need
• If a plant is rare or even locally rare try not to use it
• Do not strip all the leaves,flowers or fruit from a plant or area leave some for others and the wildlife

Kevan Palmer is Senior Instructor at Woodland Ways on of the largest providers of bushcraft & survival courses in the UK.