Ep. 89: Forage London - Urban Foraging & Emotional Connection to Green Spaces (feat. John Rensten)

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of speaking with John Rensten. John lived and worked and foraged in London for 20 years before finally escaping to Dorset, via Hampshire, in 2016 to concentrate on mushroom hunting and coastal foraging. He runs and organizes numerous urban foraging events, wild food walks and mushroom forays. On a daily basis, John studies wild food, picks wild food and really obsesses about wild food! He has a deep passion for sharing what he has learned, running city foraging walks and taking groups mushroom hunting in The New Forest or combing the seashore in Dorset. John founded Forage London to give city dwellers a chance to enjoy and discover some of the amazing wild foods that grow all around us.   

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Lush Diversity Found Urban Foraging  
• Complex Interlocking Ecologies of Greater London  
• Avoiding Terrestrial Mushrooms in Urban Environments?  
• Understanding Historical Land Use Where You Forage Fungi  
• Emotional Relationship with Local Green Spaces  
• Permaculture and Wild Foraging Permeating the Mainstream  
• Foraging Cycles, Seasonality, Multiple Crops & Geographic Variation in Fruiting  
• Edible and Medicinal Winter Mushrooms in the UK  
• Ancient Practice of Foraging Dovetailing with Modern Technology  
• Secrets of Wild Food Preservation & Preparation  
• Wending Path of Forage Knowledge Accumulation Through Gentle Repetition  
• Importance of Foraging & Learning Local  
• The Association of Foragers  
• Foraging Love Story  

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Forage London Website: https://www.foragelondon.co.uk/   
• Forage London IG: https://www.instagram.com/foragelondon/  
• The Edible City (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Edible-City-Year-Wild-Food/dp/0752266136   
• Andy Overall: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andy-Overall  
• Clifford Davy: http://forestforagers.co.uk/about-us/  
• Pascal Baudar: https://www.instagram.com/pascalbaudar/  
• Phillip Stark/Berkeley Open Source Food: https://osfood.berkeley.edu/  
• "Restharrow": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ononis_repens  
• "Sneezewort": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achillea_ptarmica  
• Sea Arrowgrass: https://gallowaywildfoods.com/sea-arrowgrass-identification-distribution-edibility/  
• "Velvet Shank": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enokitake  
• "Scarlet Elf Cup": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcoscypha_coccinea