The Forager's Calendar: A Seasonal Guide to Nature’s Wild Harvests

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For many people, fragrant elderflowers are synonymous with summer and they’re at their best from late May to June depending on where you live. The flowers and berries are the only edible part of the elder tree and require cooking to remove the small amounts of toxic chemicals. Bilberries look like small blueberries, and they are closely related, but their taste is much more intense and sharp. You will need to work hard to find them. Extremely difficult to grow and therefore rarely cultivated, bilberries are a real treat for a forager.

They are found alongside Mayapples and Morels. Ramps have a flat green leaf with a hint of red color as you get towards the bright white bulb. It’s important once you find your ramp to crush it and make sure the ramp has a strong onion garlic-like smell. If it doesn’t have that smell, toss that plant because it’s a lily of the valley and it’s deadly. Elderflower (Sambucus nigra)Not many people can resist tempting chocolate, but Charlotte Flower, the Loch Tay chocolatier, takes temptation up a notch! From her home at Acharn in Highland Perthshire, Charlotte explores the shores of the loch and nearby woodland in search of Scots pine, wild mint, wood sorrel and elderflower, which she uses to flavour her captivating confectionery. If you’re in the area, ring ahead and drop in to see her before exploring the lovely Acharn Falls nearby. Harris Gin There is a wide variety of food you can forage for in Britain, including nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and more. Foraging is a great way to appreciate seasonal change, connect with nature and find wild local ingredients to use in delicious home cooking recipes. Violets, both the leaves and flowers, contain high amounts of vitamin C and vitamin A. Wild Violets are used to make syrups, teas, and baked goods. Flowers can be added to salads and soups as garnish. Moderation is important, as this plant does contain a compound called saponin, so eating violet flowers and leaves in excess may cause digestive issues. Wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca)

These tiny, delicious red berries will ripen first in sunny locations and the further North you live they will fruit closer to mid-June. The Cornish make a delicious cheese using them, the Nepalese make curries and some people even use them for clothing. Nettle soup/Credit: Getty Images This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably.There is so much inspiring information to give you ideas of how to help climate change by growing, eating, and living sustainably, you can: Our expert monthly foraging guide explains how to forage safely, the law and what's in season each month. What is foraging?

Foraging is fun, and free, but it is important to gain experience. Even after reading and researching you can go out with all the enthusiasm, with pictures of wild foods in your head, then when you get to what you thought was Garlic Mustard you can be left wondering if it’s actually something poisonous. On my first foraging trips I found myself becoming an expert at identifying plants that could kill me but wondering if anything was out there that I could eat. That’s why I combined the seasonal calendars that I found in various foraging books into the one that I am sharing with you in the post. Your UK Foraging Calendar I created this UK foraging calendar (access here) on Google Sheets that is free for all to copy, use, and improve. UK Foraging Calendar Explaining the calendar Wild ramps boast a variety of nutrients and beneficial compounds that may improve your digestion, promote weight loss, reduce inflammation, and fight heart disease. Woodlands, forests and the countryside are a good place to start your foray into foraging, but you may also find wild foods in surprisingly urban places too, such as a local park or even your garden. I’ve added a note at the top of the calendar as a reminder to buy your yearly yeast and other items if you are home brewing. Brewing using foraged food is extremely low cost if you use up old wine bottles so it’s at the heart of being self sufficient. It’s also incredibly fun but you do have to wait a year for your home brewed wine to mature so it’s worth starting as soon as you can to get the experience and start storing batches so you have them in future years. Found the calendar helpful?Where a wild food has different parts that are edible I have noted those in the relevant months, such as roots or leaves. The very beginning of June is a favorite for many, Wild strawberries. These little berries are a smaller version than what you find in the grocery store. The strawberries are sweet, tart, and oh so juicy!