The Association of Foragers (www.foragers-association.org #AOF) was founded in 2015. It is an international professional foragers association, promoting sustainability and ecological stewardship through teaching and harvesting wild plants and fungi for use as food, drink and medicine. Members are foraging teachers and foraging suppliers. Our statement on Principles and Practice clearly lays out our collective approach to responsible, sustainable and mindful foraging.
The first members of the Association of Foragers. Bristol, 11 December 2015.
The Association was founded on 11 December 2015 by 23 founding members who’d travelled from all over the UK, Ireland and Poland to meet in Bristol. At the end of September 2015, we are 85 members and growing each month, with members all over the UK, Ireland, Poland, France, Scandinavia, the USA, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand. We all have access to a lively forum where we can freely debate the issues of the day, exchange ideas, information and research. So far, the large landowning organisations have welcomed our participation in the discussions around land use and resources.
For more information on the Association of Foragers, please contact any of the members listed in the Members Directory.
Nice piece Mo.
To add to the origin legend, I would add Terry Pratchett and dandelions…
I wrote this article on dandelion tonic water (http://www.thebotanist.com/articles/foraged-tonic-water-the-graveyard-b-t), jokingly mentioning a mysterious, and at the time entirely fictional, Guild of Foragers (in the mode of Mr Pratchett’s Guild of Assassins/Midwifes/Thieves etc). After our wild week on Islay and all the bonhomie and camaraderie it entailed, Andy riffed on this theme and, again, somewhat jokingly, or at least not entirely seriously, set up The Guild of Foragers Facebook group.
Being rather resistant to FB and something of an anarchist, my initial reaction was, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member”.
Glad I yielded.
The rest is history.
Or rather, the future.
How apt that our emblem is an acorn!
PS. Came here in the first place to see if you have an AoF Logo for my presentation? Can’t seem to extricate it from the website!
Have emailed you the logo. Yes it seems the guild was woven into the fabric of space and time and utterly unavoidable! There were signs in the stars and the dandelions… and that was before the hangovers! 😉
I was always serious about the guild and the real need for it. Question is would you have joined if you knew how serious it was going to end up?
Good to see that we already have three versions of the truth;) Might have to write up my version one day.
Yes I would have, as there is a need for us to be united as pressure on land and resources grows. As to the truth… how else can we keep historians in a job for centuries to come?! 😉