the family foraging kitchen c.i.c.
Millbrook
Foraging walks and heritage craft courses.FORAGING IS ABOUT MORE THAN SOURCING
FOOD AND NOURISHMENT. The Family Foraging Kitchen is a social enterprise
dedicated to tackling local food poverty by providing quality and affordable
wild food education to the people of Cornwall. As a C.I.C, a percentage of the
profit made from our ticketed courses allows us to provide the same educational
opportunities to those experiencing food poverty and/or social isolation for
free. We believe that all people should have access to wild food education, as
well as the confidence to access nutritious, sustainable, local, fresh food. For
every walk or course you purchase from The Family Foraging Kitchen – you help to
provide a local family the skills to find free food forever. Modern agricultural
methods have meant that foraging, once a part of our ancestral daily life, has
faded away, replaced by regular family trips to the supermarket. We are becoming
more disconnected from the food that we eat. Given the ecological, social, and
environmental crises that we now face globally, humanity needs to – rather
urgently and radically – examine its relationship with food and how we acquire
it. Additionally, we also feel that traditional skills and crafts are in danger
of being lost, especially to our children, which is why we also work with a team
of local artisans to offer courses that preserve ancestral heritage and
traditional skills. Foraging is about more than sourcing food and nourishment.
As an activity, it encourages us to get out into the countryside, helping us to
cultivate an intimate appreciation of nature, while letting us better understand
local history, science, and folklore. It has the potential to bond families,
strengthen communities, and re-establish ecological connections severed by
modern life. There is also a good deal of fear and misinformation surrounding
the use and consumption of wild plants, and we believe that the best way to
combat this is to share knowledge, helping communities to understand how their
wild environments can be used for good. While our foraging walks, talks, and
courses primarily take place across southeast Cornwall and Plymouth, we also
have a fixed outdoor education centre for our skilled craft courses, which is
based upon the Antony Estate in Sheviock. Here we have an outdoor classroom,
covered outdoor work and cookery area, apiary, woodland, orchard, reservoir, and
facilities, such a compost toilet – each established in line with our
environmental and ethical policies. The facilities on site have been designed
and built to accommodate for disabled accessibility. If you are interested in
better understanding the environment, come to Cornwall and explore what we have
on offer!
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