John, a photographer and trainer, and Christina, a clinical psychologist, moved to rural Northumberland, England shortly before starting their family. With baby Arthur in tow, they began a new life together that connected them to the natural world around their new home, and to the bounty of food and adventures right outside their door. 

As firm believers in the necessity of a hands-on connection to nature, John and Christina are confident foragers who seek to teach their own children about the health benefits and magical fun that foraging can provide. A fun and valuable pastime, foraging has strong ties to regional folklore, traditions, and sustainable living practices. It also teaches children about lifecycles, seasons, and how much fun it is to be out in the wild. 

When John and Christina realized that the general public was often hesitant and fearful around the topic of foraging, they created The Grizzly Forager—a free educational resource website for new and experienced foragers. The site provides safety information, identification tools, and even some delicious recipes sure to inspire many family-friendly meals. Now with a massive following on their social channels, John and Christina have even co-written a practical book for foragers, and have also released Foraging Threads—a family clothing line highlighting fun, quirky, and colourful designs. 

John took a moment out of the forest to speak with Face the Current about all things foraging, including the “golden rules”, robust identification practices, delectable foraged dishes, the benefits of the foraging lifestyle, and some of Arthur’s most prized forest finds. 

Foraging and wildcrafting are not common practices. How did your family get into this, and what led you to teach these practices to your children at such a young age? 

My wife, Christina, and I have always liked the outdoors, and shortly after university, we converted an old van into a motorhome to travel around the Highlands of Scotland and other parts of the UK over weekends and for summer breaks. Both of us had limited knowledge of foraging, having only gathered blackberries and raspberries with our parents and grandparents when we were children, but we started to dabble whilst on the road and visiting the forests and woodlands of the UK, gathering chanterelles, bilberries, elderflower, and raspberries.
When Arthur was born, we had just moved to rural Northumberland and knew we wanted him to have a nature-inspired upbringing, spending a lot of time outdoors in the forest. Foraging was really just a natural extension of this. He'd join us on our berry-picking forays in a baby sling from day one, and by around eighteen months old, it gave us so much joy watching him toddling around gobbling the bilberries straight from the bushes! His purple fingers and mouth and happy face were all we needed to see to know he loved it!

When Arthur was three, the simultaneous arrival of both COVID-19 and Sybbie (little sister) meant that Arthur and I suddenly had a lot more time on our hands. Lockdown of course led to many people developing new or deepening existing hobbies and skills, and for me, it was certainly a time when my foraging knowledge grew. Arthur was unable to attend nursery, so to give my wife and Sybbie some one-on-one bonding time together, I decided to take him out into the forest with me every day— that was when foraging really became a great shared passion between the two of us. 

You made a major move from life-in-the-city to a very remote hamlet “in the middle of nowhere to give Arthur a childhood like no other, surrounded by nature, the forest, and the wild moorlands of Whitelee Moor Nature Reserve and Northumberland National Park”. What were some of the challenges with making this move, and what have been some surprising benefits as your lifestyle shifted with the new environment out of the city?

When we found out we were having Arthur, we were living in the city and knew we wanted to move somewhere more rural at some point, probably around school age, but we had no intention of moving quite yet. 

However, me being me, I got excited and started looking at estate agents’ websites, just to idly be able to imagine what our future home might be like. As luck would have it, I spotted a lovely house for sale, and when we saw that it was not far from one of our favourite camping spots in the forested uplands of the Cheviot Hills, we knew we had to book a viewing—still believing it to just be idle dreamery. But we fell in love with the house and location instantly and knew, even before leaving the viewing, that we needed to buy it. As we drove onto the drive for the first time, I believe the exact words were “Oh no, we’re going to have to put an offer in, aren’t we?” We moved in three weeks before Arthur was born and it was a completely new chapter for the three of us!

Living so remotely certainly has its challenges—you can’t just nip out to the shop if you’ve forgotten milk, so you have to be a bit more organised and prepared. Going to work involves quite a long commute, so days start early and end late—not good if you are not a morning person! 

As the kids grow, we do find ourselves driving them around a lot to social events or activities, and as they get older, I imagine we may feel like it would be nice if they could be less dependent on us for transport. Both Christina and I remember freely going to friends’ houses on our bikes from a fairly young age, but that is definitely not possible from here. 

Being so high above sea level, the local area can also be affected quite badly by ice and snow, and once or twice we have found ourselves completely snowed-in and isolated from available amenities for a number of days at a time. We also had to make do with terrible satellite internet for the first five years of living here, which made working from home quite difficult and watching Netflix impossible (shock horror!), and we quite often experience power cuts! In 2021, when a powerful storm called Arwen hit the UK, we were without water, central heating, or power for twelve days in the middle of winter! Thank goodness for the woodburner.

I’m often asked, given all these challenges, if moving back to (or at least a little closer to) the city would be better for us, and our response is always a resounding, “No!” There are challenges, yes, but absolutely nothing can beat living and raising children in a place like this. Stepping out into the garden in the morning with a coffee in hand to watch the mist roll-in over the hills and lake and down into the forest is nothing short of magical. The air is different; the smell of moss, pine needles, and mycelium fills your lungs with every breath; the calls of owls and cuckoos echo through the trees, and the star-filled night sky never fails to take our breath away. We wanted a nature-inspired lifestyle for the kids, and stepping out of your front door directly into the forest certainly achieves that. The most notable benefit, I have found, is one of wellbeing. At the end of a work day, you can leave behind the hustle and noise of the city and return home to a place of tranquility and beauty. Stresses melt away as the forest envelops you, and you can more readily tap into the joy and happiness that exists from just being in the present moment there, watching the kids play around the trees.
 

The Grizzly Forager is a site that’s all about foraging with kids, but might you say that the art of foraging is in a way an experience that makes even the adult feel like a kid again—like a scavenger hunt adventure in nature?

Absolutely, yes! The thrill of the hunt and the pure excitement of finding that elusive plant or mushroom is such an amazing experience, no matter how old you are! I have also found that foraging with kids brings out the inner child in me, and in those moments where fun, rather than foraging, is being had (such as mid-foray tree climbing, wild swimming, or rolling down grassy meadow hills), one cannot help but join in! Spending time with kids is a wonderful mental tonic for an adult, and we can learn so much from them when we choose to be in the present moment with them.

Your son Arthur has somewhat become the face and spokesperson for The Grizzly Forager, sharing educational and fun information on foraging experiences. It is so heartfelt and precious to see him educating on mushroom and plant parts and how to assess whether something is edible! What inspired you to lead the mission and messaging with your children as the voice (and face)?  

This sort of happened organically. My passion is photography, and a primary function of The Grizzly Forager has always been to document our foraging adventures in the forest with beautiful pictures that inspire other parents to do the same. Being behind the camera meant that I never featured in the shots, and so people became accustomed to just seeing Arthur and Sybbie, rather than me. The more recent videos happened in the same way—Arthur was recording a video message for one of his foraging friends, Ester, telling her all about what he’d found in the forest that day. After we’d recorded it, he asked if he could record another one for The Grizzly Forager followers, and it sort of escalated from there!

I think the recent success of The Grizzly Forager on social media has been down to this, though. What better way to demonstrate how accessible and fun foraging can be for the whole family than to let a child tell you? The videos are quite unique and seem to appeal to a very wide audience: parents, grandparents, people in the education sector, foragers, and many others! I think having Arthur and Sybbie narrate and explain our finds gives people confidence. The main identification points are explained in a very easy-to-understand format by a child (and clarified or expanded upon where required by me in captions and comments), which helps them to be inspired, for themselves and their children. I also think it feels very wholesome and nostalgic to see a little boy and girl engaging so enthusiastically with nature on social media, which may be a warm and pleasant counterpoint to some of the other content that seems to be prevalent on the web.

What are Arthur’s favorite things to forage (and why)? 

Arthur’s favourite things vary and change throughout the seasons, but one constant favourite of his is mushrooms, particularly chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius). He absolutely loves chanterelle soup (we have some German heritage through Arthur’s mum, so we call it pfifferling soup), and watching him wolf it down and ask for seconds is always a highlight of the summer months! 

As with most kids, sweet summer berries are also a great favourite with both Arthur and Sybbie, and we often set out to collect a basketful to make a warming crumble with custard. But in truth, more often than not we end up with most of the berries being eaten en route and not enough coming home!

Arthur has always been a thoughtful and inquisitive little boy, and when he finds something interesting, he will go all in with his love of it. This makes identifying new finds, or learning about a particular genus of plant or mushroom very exciting for him (and for me!). He also loves foraging for non-edible things and has quite an extensive collection of abandoned nests, pine cones, fossils, and animal bones, including quite a few skulls.

Foraging feeds your body, your intellect, and your soul. The benefits are numerous! Can you share some examples of the benefits you’ve experienced firsthand? 

Foraging has so many wonderful benefits that it’s so hard to choose which has had the most impact for me, and for us as a family. It is good for our physical and mental wellbeing, for our learning and development, for our feelings of connection; the list goes on and on! If I have to choose, the most significant benefit for me has been for my mental wellbeing, which I would define as my general satisfaction with life, or my overall happiness. Foraging encourages me to connect with my family like never before—we spend so much quality time together, building relationships and bonds through a shared outdoor passion. It also encourages me to be a little bit healthier; to feel rewarded from learning and developing my skills and knowledge; to be kinder to myself, to others, and the natural world around me; and to be present and in the moment with my family, with no distractions or external pressures.

I generally associate the benefits of foraging with time; time spent in the forest, time spent with my family, time to learn new things, time to play like a child, freezing time in photographs, and appreciating time by being in the moment. Time is one of those things that, if we’re lucky enough to be able to look back on our life from a death-bed, we would undoubtedly wish for more of, but foraging is teaching me to appreciate the time that I’ve had and the time that I’ve got, and how to spend that time being happy. This is what makes foraging magical on so many levels for me. I hope that’s not too philosophical!

What does foraging stewardship mean to you?  

To me, Foraging Stewardship primarily means foraging responsibly and sustainably. The act of entering green spaces and removing wild food for personal consumption carries with it a great responsibility. If we don’t respect and care for the places where we forage, the land and the other forest inhabitants that also rely on the foods we take will consequently suffer. This requires us to follow a set of rules, which I commonly refer to as “The Forager’s Code” (see below). As a father, I also see Foraging Stewardship as a responsibility to the art of foraging itself. So, passing my knowledge and skills on to my children and others—either in person or via The Grizzly Forager—is also a way of ensuring the continuity of the Stewardship.

The Forager’s Code

Respect Nature

Respecting the natural world has to be at the forefront of a forager's mind. Just as you care about where your shop-bought food comes from, as a collector of nature's harvest, you must also respect and care for the place that your wild food comes from. This is vital if you or your children wish to return here in the years to come and find it unchanged, still beautiful, and remaining productive and fruitful. You must leave no trace of your visit and never do anything that will endanger the forest or its inhabitants, like start uncontrolled fires; drop litter or plastics; deliberately destroy habitats; or disturb nests, warrens, or dens.

Collect From Plentiful Sources

As nature lovers, we really want plant and mushroom populations to thrive, which is why it's really important to only harvest from plentiful sources of wild edibles. If there is an abundance of a particular species, then go ahead and fill your basket, but if there are only one or two small specimens, it's best to leave them be and let them do their thing. This allows them to establish a better foothold in the area and increase the population, providing you with more diversity in the years to come.

Leave Plenty Behind

A whole host of creatures depend on plants and mushrooms, including the delicious edible varieties that we favour. Birds, squirrels, mice, insects, caterpillars, butterflies, bees, and moths—to name just a few—rely on the abundance that nature provides, so it's really important that we don't completely decimate an area of wild food. It's also easy to forget that the parts that we like to eat serve an essential purpose to the plant, as well—from leaves providing energy from the sun; flowers attracting pollinators; and berries, seeds, and mushroom fruiting bodies creating new populations the following season. When we over-harvest, we interfere with important life cycles. We therefore have to only take what we need and leave plenty behind for the wildlife (and other foragers!).

Don’t Harvest Rare Species

Some edible plant and mushroom species are very uncommon and only appear in certain locations at certain times of the year. A prime example in the UK is the lion's mane fungus, Hericium erinaceus. This species is extremely rare in the UK and is listed on the Red Data List of Threatened British Fungi. As such, it should never be collected. Other types of plants and mushrooms, although not on the endangered Red Data list, may still be rare, so it's vital that we always have a good field guide to aid our identifications.

Minimise Damage

As already mentioned, we must not undertake any activities that may harm the beautiful natural environment and delicate ecosystems that exist in our green spaces. This includes littering; intentional or reckless damage of trees, plants, or mushrooms; or disturbing nesting birds or other wildlife. A common issue with foraging is trampling. Often in our eagerness to get to a harvesting location, we trample the ground around a plant or mushroom. This may damage the underground mycelium networks or root systems and prevent it from fruiting or flowering the following season. Sticking to paths is the best course of action, but if we do go "off-road", we should always take care where we are walking so as not to cause damage when we find something of interest. Being a green ninja is key—we should always leave no trace of our visit, and always respect the green spaces we love.

Do you have any advice on how people who haven’t experienced foraging could get started with this stewardship (and safety) in mind?

Foraging is seen as an activity that requires pre-existing expert knowledge, and this can often be seen as a barrier for the average person. But in reality, this isn’t the case at all. Whilst there are a lot of foragers and mushroom hunters we may see online with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of wild foods, that certainly isn’t a prerequisite for getting outside and starting to forage things for supper. The key is to understand and follow some basic key safety rules to keep yourself (and your children) safe, and with these in place, learn as you go along, starting with very simple and safe foods, such as blackberries, dandelions, and nettles, working your way up as your skills and confidence grow. It’s better to think of it as a progressive learning journey, rather than something you study first, then do afterwards!

Many people are already foragers but just don’t realise it! If you’ve successfully foraged for blackberries, apples, or elderflowers, then you’ve already started a foraging journey. And provided you follow the golden rules of foraging and a robust identification process (see below), you can quite quickly develop familiarity and confidence with a whole host of wild foods.

Giving people a place to start was one of the reasons I started The Grizzly Forager website. It contains lots of preliminary information about foraging safely and responsibly and its child-friendly nature means that the vast majority of the wild food finds featured on the site are safe introductions to the world of foraging, even if you don’t intend to do it with kids. I’d also recommend buying a few good books and field guides that are relevant to your geographical location, joining Facebook groups to help you learn more from a friendly community (I help to run FORAGE:UK), and maybe attending a few foraging walks with an experienced forager/teacher. Using plant and mushroom identification apps can be helpful as part of an identification strategy, but one should never rely solely on an app for an ID, as they can quite often make mistakes. To be safe, it is best to always double and triple-check any suggestions the app gives you against good field guides, books, and/or reputable foraging websites.

Golden Rules of Foraging:

Never eat, or let your kids eat, something that you cannot identify with one-hundred percent certainty. Use robust ID methods. If there is any doubt at all, do not eat it. If you are contemplating eating a yellow mushroom because you think it’s a chanterelle, then don’t. Wait until you know it’s a chanterelle!

Be responsible for your own and your children’s safety at all times. Never take unnecessary risks with wild food, supervise your children and manage their behaviour.

Be actively aware of your surroundings at all times. Understand the dangers in your area, including wildlife and geographical dangers such as roads, rivers, and ravines.

Know what to do in an emergency. If something goes wrong, always ensure you have a plan of action and you are able to contact emergency services. Always make sure someone knows where you are at all times and has a means of contacting you.

Robust Identification:

Sources—Always use multiple reputable sources for verifying a find, such as field guides, books, reputable websites, other foragers, and apps. Never rely on just one source.

Features—Look at all the key identifying features of your find and compare them to those listed in your sources. If there are differences or discrepancies or doubts, then you cannot be one hundred percent certain.

Lifecycle—Try to look at finds at all stages of growth and compare these to your sources.

Be Patient—Remember that young specimens may not have all the key identifying features, such as flowers or seeds. You may need to return to your find later in the season to properly verify it.

Aside from being a food source, what are some of Arthur’s favorite activities to make/do with foraged items? 

Arthur enjoys lots of nature-inspired activities, some of which we do whilst on forays into the woods alongside foraging. He particularly loves making mushroom ink for drawing and painting from shaggy inkcaps (Coprinus comatus), making crowns or wands for Sybbie out of willow and wildflowers, or finding just the right piece of wood for a staff, sword, or even bow and arrow.

Arthur has always been an animal enthusiast and so the highlights of any trip to the forest for him is always to find evidence of animals. Spotting a snake or a toad, or catching a glimpse of a fish or a bird of prey is the greatest thrill! But he also loves finding and identifying (and sometimes collecting!) animal bones, eggshells, feathers, and footprints. A trip into nature rarely ends without pocketfuls of interestingly shaped or attractively coloured rocks, bits of bark and sticks, and occasionally fossils and shells from the beaches—things that many kids like doing! The Grizzly Forager ethos is all about getting kids outside and into nature, and although it’s predominantly about foraging, I think it’s important to include other fun outdoor activities to keep kids entertained and enthralled with nature.

You claim to not have chef backgrounds, but your recipes are incredible and have a very gourmet look to the meals you create! I think there’s something about those special ingredients and added touches that can really create a professional feel, and it  is an enriching and beautiful experience to have with our food. What are some of the family’s favorite recipes that feel gourmet and extra special to you? 

IMAGE:  Green Man Pie

We are certainly not chefs! Although, I do think my wife and I can at least cook to some degree! One of the things I have noticed about cooking with wild food is that it makes the whole process feel a bit more special. A sense that because “effort” has gone into sourcing, cleaning, and preparing the ingredients—often as a family—it makes the eating of it somehow “better” in some way! It’s quite a lovely feeling, to know you (and nature!) played a big hand in sourcing and creating it.

There are a few recipes that feel very gourmet to us. A firm family favourite is pickled wild mushrooms in olive oil, which often surprises a lot of people as one doesn’t tend to think of mushrooms as something to pickle. It is an italian-inspired antipasti dish that we’ll often serve as a starter or as a snack on crusty bread for wintery nights in, watching movies by the fire.

Another wonderful pickle is wild garlic (Allium ursinum) buds in a sweet pickle brine, which is just devastatingly moreish. Just be sure not to kiss anyone for a few days after! 

We also love making sweet, infused fruit vinegars from wild berries, which is fantastic drizzled over a salad or fresh mozzarella cheese. I think a lot of the time it’s the simplest dishes with only a few, well-balanced components that really allow the foraged ingredients to shine!
When it comes to gourmet though, nothing is fancier than using those sought-after mushrooms that are well known around the world for being very special, like ceps (Boletus edulis), chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius), the prince (Agaricus augustus), and maitake (Griffola frondosa). Adding these to any dish just elevates it above anything you can buy from a supermarket. My particular favourite is a simple pie made from wonderful wild mushrooms like these. Pies are a very wholesome thing to make—simple, hearty, and often show-stopping, too, if you take the time to decorate them with the kids!

You offer a lot of great resources such as “golden rules”, types of equipment, safety rules, and even a foraging calendar (because understanding where to forage is as important as when). Can you explain a bit on what “The Countryside Code” entails?

The Countryside Code is a government-backed initiative aimed at visitors to the UK’s National Parks, waterways, coasts, and countryside. It was created in the 1950s and details various ways that visitors can protect these areas and the people that live and work there. 

The code focuses on three key areas: Respect Everyone, Protect the Environment, and Enjoy The Outdoors. It also suggests numerous ways that visitors can ensure the continuing beauty and accessibility of the UK’s green spaces, including  closing gates on agricultural land, sticking to paths, not starting uncontrolled fires, leaving no trace of a visit, and controlling pets when around livestock. 

One of my favorite captions is on a video post you shared of  a spider crawling up your daughter’s arm.  She then calls the spider “marvelous”—an uncommon response from a kiddo-spider interaction. You go on to say,

“When you embrace foraging you become something more than just a visiting hunter-gatherer to the forest. You become part of the forest itself, experiencing oneness with the other inhabitants in seeing how each organism there is dependent on the actions of others. You are exploring, appreciating, and sharing nature's bounty with the rest of the forest’s inhabitants, not as an outsider, but as a part of nature itself. All of the residents of the forest, from the mighty oak to the tiny spider deserve our attention and consideration, our kindness, and our love, because as Sybbie so innocently puts it, they are marvelous!” 

Fostering this type of connection and interconnectedness with nature is priceless! What is your ultimate goal with The Grizzly Forager as a source of inspiration? 

I started The Grizzly Forager because I kept getting asked about how I was going about the task of teaching Arthur, and later Sybbie, how to forage safely. I think seeing kids with mushrooms and other wild foods has a strange, conflicting impact on people. On the one hand, I believe they think it’s really wonderful and inspiring and something they would love to do, but on the other, they see a lot of risk, particularly with mushrooms, which are traditionally viewed with distrust by western societies. It was fairly evident from the start that there was an appetite for the wholesome act of getting out into nature with their little ones, but there was also a major “risk” barrier in place that also needed to be addressed if people were to actually go out and do it!

As a father, forager, a photographer, a risk and safety management professional, and a trainer, I felt that I had a pretty unique set of weird and wonderful skills to be able to get this message across. I had the kids, the foraging knowledge, the ability to inspire with beautiful photographs, and the skills to properly risk-assess situations and educate others at the same time—a bit of a perfect storm!

First and foremost, The Grizzly Forager’s main goal is to be a source of inspiration for parents. Foraging with Arthur and Sybbie has been one of the most amazing, life-enriching things I have ever done, with almost limitless opportunities to learn, develop, have fun, and just generally create family-centric happiness. I want other parents to experience that, and know that they absolutely do not have to be experts to do so safely! 

As time has progressed, other goals have also naturally developed, such as the importance of raising nature-inspired kids as future stewards and custodians of our green spaces, advocating safe and responsible foraging practices, and combating in-grained societal mycophobia through education about these amazing organisms. More and more though, I have become aware that it’s bigger than all of that; it’s about changing the way we see our relationship with nature and the natural world. I’ve too often come across kids (and even adults!) who have never seen blackberries or bilberries, have difficulty knowing the difference between an acorn and a pine cone, and who have never seen frogspawn, let alone held or kissed a frog! For many, fruit is something you buy in plastic punnets from supermarkets, and animals are something you admire on TV or keep as a pet. And a spider is a pest, a nuisance, and more often than not something creepy to be scared of when it invades your home. We humans seem to have lost our connection, our relationship, with nature and the world that gave rise to us.

But when you’re out there, in the woods, in the hedgerows, on the hills, immersed within nature, your position changes. When the food you gather is shared with the bird and the wood mouse, and the bench you eat it on is a tussock of moss, teeming with life, you become one with the wider system. You are no longer apart from, but a part of the whole. This awareness and the appreciation for our position within the natural world is a gift that allows children to grow into adults who recognise their responsibility, not on a head but rather a heart level, who want to protect out of love.

Nature has the power to enrich the lives of us all, but especially children, who will approach Her with an open mind and heart. It can calm, soothe, and excite all at the same time, make children see how small and yet how amazing they are, and be a place where they can be free to be whoever they are while connected to a much greater whole. But it can only do this if children are out there and allowed to explore and to open their eyes to all Her wonders. And if The Grizzly Forager can inspire just one family to explore further, to connect with nature more deeply, then Arthur, Sybbie, and I have achieved what we set out to do.

More Info:

www.thegrizzlyforager.co.uk

IG: @thegrizzlyforager
FB: @thegrizzlyforager