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Gillian Edom

@gillianedom

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Foraging, salvaging, papermaking, dyeing. Using things that come out of the earth...

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I appreciate this is not my normal type of post, but I feel it is important, and is also foraging in a different sort of way.

The other evening I attended an event where people were provided with snacky eats, as is often the way. I took along my bucket and asked the people organising the food if they would save me the uneaten food on the plates to take home so I could put it in my hotbin to make compost. (Important note: I wouldn't have put it in a normal compost bin which might have attracted unwanted visitors.)

At the end of the evening they presented me with a practically full container. The other uneaten food on the table was offered to guests to take home in bags, so was not wasted I'm pleased to say.

There were probably about 50-60 people at the event, so maybe it wasn't surprising that this amount of food was wasted, but as someone who leaves hardly anything on a food plate except gristle and bones, I have to ask why so many people help themselves to food that they don't intend to eat?Are they unable to guage their eating capacity? Is food so easy to come by that they see it as a right to take and discard at will? I'm not judging individuals, but questioning our society's food culture as a whole. Is it now time to stop and consider the true origin and value of our food, and the impacts and perils of throwing away so much?

In the meantime, my hotbin is steaming!

#foodwaste #foragingwastefood #compost #composting #hotbin #hotbins by @gillianedom

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7 days ago

It was perfect weather for an autumn foraging walk with a group of really lovely people and wonderful views of the blue and green landscape of Chichester Harbour.

#forage #foraged #foraging #foragedfood #forager #foragers #foragedfooduk #wildfood #wildplants #foragingwalk #foragingwalks #chichesterharbour #chichesterharbourwalks #chidham by @gillianedom

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a month ago

This walk is for beginners and intended to show you various plants and berries and maybe nuts that you can forage, to help you through whatever comes next.

#forage #foraged #foraging #foragedfood #forager #foragers #foragedfooduk #wildfood #wildplants #foragingwalk #foragingwalks #chichesterharbour #chichesterharbourwalks #chidham by @gillianedom

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a month ago

Taking part for the second time in The Wildbiome Project has been much harder than I thought. This time I've known what to eat and how to cook it, so the preparation is taking less time, but I have so many other things going that it's been hard to find the time to be at all imaginative (which I'd planned), apart from preparing what I need to eat next.

The experience is turning out to be different and I'm learning new things. I've hardly lost any weight, which I'm pleased about, as losing another 10lb, as I did before, would probably finish me off! Although I have missed the spring greens, this time I've been liberal in my use of acorn flour and also have plenty of nuts. I've been eating lots of nettles, which are producing an autumn flush of growth, and I could never have predicted that blackberries could become a staple.

#forage #foraged #foraging #foragedfood #forager #foragers #foragedfooduk #wildfood #wildplants #wildbiomeproject #seapurslane #wildgarlic #walnut #walnutburgers by @gillianedom

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a month ago

Yesterday I had a meeting in Hotham Park. I thought I'd go early and have a little wander round and collect a few things. I found blackbeerries and linden berries, but as I walked along a pathway I was taken aback to see a nice fat chicken of the woods growing out of a little wooden post. This was a wonderful surprise, and so I helped myself to it. It was quite a young one and so very soft. Later in the day I had some stir-fried 'chicken' with common mallow and plantain leaves, along with my wild boar stew.

#forage #foraged #foraging #foragedfood #forager #foragers #foragedfooduk #wildfood #wildplants #wildbiomeproject #chicken of the woods #wildboar # wildboarstew by @gillianedom

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4

a month ago

I don't claim to images that might have been commissioned for a recipe book. This is the reality of my first breakfast on the latest #wildbiomeproject which has started today. In order to give myself a good calorie boost, so I can get myself into the rhythmn again, I ate a whole grilled mackerel stuffed with nettles. I can tell you, it was absolutely delicious. The nettles were either moist with fish juice, or crispy where they stuck out. As you can see, my walnut and apple burgers turned out as one big burger mush, with a few dandelions I found lingering in the garden. This also tasted nice and who cares if I ended up with one big burger? It has been so different to last year, when I had to go to bed at the end of the afternoon because I felt so exhausted and unwell.

#forage #foraged #foraging #foragedfood #forager #foragers #foragedfooduk #wildfood #wildplants #mackerel #nettles #walnuts #dandelions by @gillianedom

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12

2 months ago

Blackberry dust. Ready for cake making.

#wildbiomeproject #forage #foraging #forager #foragedfood #wildfood #wildediblefood #blackberry #blackberries #blackberryflour by @gillianedom

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2 months ago

My runner beans are really feeling the strain of the heat. However, growing amongst them is a healthy crop of fat hen, which decided to grow abundantly and even thrive amongst the struggling and less productive bean stalks. For weeks they produced leaves for me to use as a vegetable, but now they are going to seed and I am slowly cutting them down so that the seeds might be dried and stored for leaner times. I'm going to leave the cut down plants in the ground to continue to provide new leaf growth where they can, to keep the soil open and alive while the roots remain and ultimately to feed it. Our wild plants may one day (soon?) become a more important food source for many more people.

#forage #foraged #foraging #foragedfood #forager #foragers #foragedfooduk #wildfood #wildplants #foodsource #fathen #chenopodiumalbum by @gillianedom

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2 months ago

My book has now arrived. It's been quite a long wait. If anyone is curious to know what it's like for one person to experience eating wild and foraged food on the #wildbiomeproject, this may be of interest to you.

You can find details of how to buy it here: https://gillianedomsbook.blogspot.com/

#forage #foraged #foraging #foragedfood #forager #foragers #foragedfooduk #wildfood #foragingbooks #fishheadsanddust by @gillianedom

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3 months ago

#cards #handmade #handmadecards #handmadepaper #handmadepapercards by @gillianedom

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3 months ago

My weekend was spent at The Salthouse, a three hundred year old building on the edge of Pagham Harbour. Chris and Helen Hartley-Sharpe are the owners of this listed building and are sharing it with the local community to hold events and exhibitions and to share its history and heritage.

This was Nettle Weekend at The Salthouse, and I took my well worn exhibits to entice people into the amazing world of nettles and I must say that some were certainly enticed.

I also met up with old friends and acquaintances, who dropped in to say hello, as well as meeting new and interesting people. Weaver and flax grower Alice #vanderhume came with her lovely dad and shared her new flax project with me. She is growing flax in various random community plots around Portsmouth and involving local people, who are watching over the flax and keeping it watered. Her weaving work is beautiful and I will be visiting her exhibition in the next few weeks.

Mima Taylor #taylor.mima also introduced herself and we had a wonderful talk about our shared love of the natural world and her work teaching horticulture to students and inspring people to grow and care for plants.

Sarah Warner #sarahwarner6626 came along with some of her artist colleagues. They are artists in residence at the Pagham Harbour RSPB Visitors Centre. It was lovely to meet them and hear about their work.

These sort of events make you realise how many wonderful and interesting people there are in the world and the variety of things they are doing to make it a better place to live in.

#Nettles #Stingingnettles #nettlefibre #Pagham #Paghamharbour #TheSalthouse #TheSalthousePagham #Textiles #nettleforus by @gillianedom

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3 months ago

Back to my nettle roots. Hosted by The Salthouse at Pagham Harbour. Worth a visit even without the nettles being there.

#Nettles #Nettleexhibition #nettlestring #pagham #paghamharbour #TheSalthousePagham by @gillianedom

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3 months ago