A good time is always had when our dear friend Jen (The Wild Yam) stops in to see us at the shop in Almonte. We’ve known Jen for a number of years now, originally connecting via our YouTube Channel to chat about the great outdoors, nature and our beloved birds.
Since then, we’ve bonded over our common interest in the great outdoors and she has become a person we are always excited to talk to. For those that have yet to meet Jen in the store or on her YouTube Channel, she is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to living life to the fullest in the outdoors.
Using her 174-acre property in Ontario, she has spent a number of years working on identifying the variety of flora and fauna our beautiful province has to offer. Beginning with photography, Jen instantly was enthralled with her natural surroundings and took to books and the world wide web to educate herself on the mushrooms, plants and animals she was photographing.
After establishing a basic knowledge of many of the mushrooms and plants nearby, she eventually became comfortable enough to practice safe foraging, effectively living off her land as much as she could.
While she continues to educate herself, she now has learned how to match certain types of terrain with the types of food that might be growing in and around any particular area.
As she states, she now views the woods as her grocery store, in addition to a peaceful, natural space of relaxation, exploration and self-discovery.
We are happy to announce that we have been working on putting together a specialized workshop this spring that will bring together outdoor enthusiasts, birders, foragers or anyone interested in learning more about their natural environment.
This workshop aims to help participants properly identify plants and mushrooms native to our area, where and when to look for them and how you too can find food by evaluating certain characteristics of many different types of landscapes.
Stay tuned as we plan to have more details about this in the coming weeks!