About

Why Foraging?

Foraging allowed me to find a place in this world. For over a decade, I was an archaeologist, traveling the country and digging my way through my twenties. I worked on incredible projects and dug at amazing sites. For me, it was an immensely special connection to our past and the land.

Finding ‘treasure’ wasn’t nearly as exciting as finding those tiny human connections. One of the most exhilarating finds I made during my time was a small sherd of pottery. It wasn’t anything special—just a bit of run-of-the-mill prehistoric ‘grot.’ What made this piece stick with me was the clear impression of the maker’s thumbprint on its surface. Whorls and ridges were visible. I placed my thumb there, and it was as if this one small action had bridged the thousands of years between me and them.

But field archaeology takes its toll. It’s not glamorous; it’s hard on the body, and the conditions—especially when working in commercial archaeology—can begin to outweigh the passion. When my hip started acting up, I decided to make a new start. I tried many things, but it wasn’t until I began taking foraging seriously (something I’d always just ‘done a spot of’) that something I’d lost was found again. It brought meaning and purpose through offering a real connection to our world. I could be outdoors and choose when to evade the harsh elements by hunkering down in my study to read or type up some notes.

I found a similar feeling of connection to the one I’d felt with that piece of pottery. I was using knowledge that had been gained over thousands of years. It opened up so many new pathways. There is always something to learn, something to do, something to discover.

Why The Forager’s Diary?

This site came out of two things I really wanted—a place to write up and consolidate the notes I had been making for the last few years, and an incentive to finalize my notes and thoughts. I also wanted a website that was light and fast, one I could access from anywhere. Behind the scenes, I have uploaded most of my notes and made it so I can have access to the site ‘offline.’ As I develop the front end of this site, more will become publicly available, with the final goal of having a resource that can be accessed by anyone, on or offline. The knowledge isn’t mine—it’s ours. The ramblings and musings, though, are all me.