I have an interest in permaculture, forest gardens, no dig and foraging for food. Particularly in the context of sustainable hutting and supplementing food rations during visits.
What have your experiences been and what are your tips etc for folk interested in foraging for foods in and round their huts. Both from the point of view of working with what exists, and from the point of view of planting and setting up perennial stuff that can be foraged during visits?
Is this something only for the warmer months ? Or are there things to consider that would be useful during visits during colder periods.
Having done a bit o reading around a first (there must be tons) few tentative leafy's to plant for foraging appear to be:-
Sorrel
Kale
Beat Spinach
Wild Garlic
Chick Weed (Not pond weed)
Someone recommended Jerusalem Artichokes, but reading up on them they seem to have (Inulin induced) flatulence issues LOL.
Probably most fruiting trees and shrubs. Gooseberries, Blackcurrants, chestnuts, oak being cases in point. I guess raspberries and maybe some of the other variants like Loganberries or the Canadian Salmonberries. I think there was a tree specialist near glasgow mentioned in the Tap O Noth videos that does heritage scotish cultivars.
Strawberries (obviously LOL) and if the ground is suitable cranberries and Bilberries.
On fungi
Promising types seem to be Chicken of the Woods, Trooping Funnel, White Wood Hedgehog and terracotta Wood Hedgehog. But don't quote me on this I only watched a couple of you tube video's. It really needs input from someone that walks the walk rather than just talking it at the moment. I think you can buy pre-prepared inoculation wood plugs for Shiitake Mushrooms and setup your own logs for fruiting too.
I found a reference to https://www.realseeds.co.uk/ they seem to keep some exotic variants that do well in siberia/russia/canada etc so should be doable for most parts of Scotland. The Tap O Noth folk seem to have been trying out a bunch of the early producing variety's from them with a reasonable degree of success. But all locations vary and the only way to be sure is to try stuff. So most edibles that are perennial or self seeding/suckering should be good.
Mushrooms and Fungi in general are something I have always meant to look into a bit deeper, but TBH my initial readings on the subject have left me rather wary of accidental poisoning. I guess it did not help that some of the edible and non edible variety's can look rather similar to the untrained eye. The questions is how do I train my eye without killing myself doing it. It feels a bit chicken and egg LOL.
I am kind of left wondering if there is not a very visually distinct set of edible mushrooms that could be seeded (particularly in a woody environment) and encouraged to make life a little safer and still have wild forage. Putting the foody thing aside chantrelle's look at first glance like they might be a suitable candidate. Anyone think of some others.
There are some interesting videos on Youtube (Aren't there always...) by a couple calling themselves Tap O Noth. Granted they are doing the full permaculture and market gardening as a farm business thing. But they are located near Aberdeen, so fairly north and on the east coast. It is it interesting to see what they are doing with their methods and which variety's they are growing. Compared to which variety's they find to be successful so far north/east.
I'd say foraging can be done almost all year round. There are still blackberries, apples, rosehips and elderberries growing on our patch of land, as well as mushrooms and various leafy greens that are edible. The herbs seem to grow all year round and if you've space nearby to plant some veg near your hut then go for it. Even a bucket of potatoes can be fun to dig up and cook same day. :)