03 Magazine: April 05, 2024

Photo: Paula Vigus
“People used to the pace
of everyday life can
struggle with foraging,
as it’s not a fast-paced
activity, even though it
can be fun, joyous and
exciting to do.”
“I’ve thought I had to buy it, then one day I find it out
foraging,” she says.
“A plant you have been blind to before is suddenly
available because of that increased awareness.”
She had that experience with Shepherd’s Purse, a
plant that is good for women’s menstrual health.
“I had always been buying it from the health shop as
I had no idea we could find it locally.
“One day I was down at the Manawatū River and
was absolutely astonished to find it.
“It is a place I forage a lot and had never seen it
before and there it was.”
The question Helen gets asked the most is if she
has poisoned herself or made herself ill from something
she has foraged.
“Touch wood” she never has.
“I see the high level of anxiety around it. It is testament
to how disconnected we are from our food sources that
people have such anxiety about poisoning themselves.”
It is a genuine concern, but she says the golden rule
of foraging is to “never, ever” eat anything you cannot
100 percent positively identify.
“We have some excellent books from New Zealand
writers written for here so they are all excellent sources.
I would say take a foraging book for a walk and really
study those photographs.”
Taking a person with more plant literacy on your walks
is another way to learn.
“Don’t try to learn everything in one walk, as you’ll
just get overwhelmed and confused.”
People used to the pace of everyday life can struggle
with foraging, as it’s not a fast-paced activity where a
person can learn everything in one walk or one foraging
class, even though it can be fun, joyous and exciting to do.
“It’s a very slow practice. That is its beauty. For the
beginning forager I’d say learn one plant a month and go
deep with that one plant. Just 12 a year.”
If people want to get serious about foraging, Lehndorf
advises them to think of plants like a new friend.
“If making a new friend, you don’t meet them once
and go ‘you’re a firm friend’, you spend time with them
and get to know them. And start with something in your
backyard so you can form a deep relationship.”
She recommends starting out with the common
dandelion, as they are very easy to find and easy to dig
up and examine from tip of root to the flower.