Foraging Walk with Amelia South at Angevine Farm

About Amelia

Amelia overcame candida and rosacea naturally, healing herself without the need for conventional medicine. She has been foraging wild foods since 2006 and became a Certified Herbalist in 2018. Known for her grounded, earthy approach, Amelia hikes barefoot, lives off the land, and empowers others to heal themselves through the medicinal power of food and herbs. There’s a whole world of food and medicine right outside your own back door that she is excited to show you!

Q&A with Amelia

Q: How can we forage plants without harming nature?

A: Plants (for the most part) know that we need them. They want to take care of us. That’s why practicing reciprocity and the Honorable Harvest is so important. Harvest only what you need and always leave some for others and for the plant to propagate itself. Say thank you to the plant or perhaps leave an offering. Treat them with the same courtesy you would another person and they will repay you a hundredfold with their food and medicine.

Q: How do I know if a plant is safe to eat?

A: Learning which plants are safe or unsafe is a matter of improving your plant identification skills. Having a reliable regional field guide is critical in this aspect! An app on your phone may be helpful, but you should always seek to positively identify something at least three different times before you try consuming it. Doing your research with reliable sources is critical. Make sure you find a book that was written by a human, not just AI.

Q: What’s the deeper value of foraging beyond just free food?

A: Foraging is fun, exciting, and brings you back to your ancestral roots. Some people, like myself, pick up a knack for it. It’s our responsibility to teach others. Food is your medicine, and the quality of the food that you put into your body is critical. How much fresher can you get than a plant you harvested yourself? Wild plants are notorious for being more nutritious than the cultivated fruits and vegetables we are used to eating from the grocery store. 

Q: Can you share a common ailment that people can treat with plants they are likely to find in their backyard?

A: Of course! Have you ever gotten stung by a bee? If you get stung by any insect, look around the area for a low growing plant with wide, green, ribbed leaves.This is Plantain (Plantago major), one of the most common weeds in North America. Pick a leaf off, chew it up in your mouth, then spit it out into your hand and apply the mash to the sting area. The pain and swelling will subside in a matter of a few minutes.

Q: What does foraging have to do with healing your gut?

A: Curating a healthy and balanced gut microbiome includes eating a widely varied diet. Wild edible plants are often very high in fiber, including some prebiotic fiber, which is the essential food for the probiotics that populate your gut. Introducing wild plants, along with the wild yeasts that are often found on some of them, is a great way to help increase the population of healthy gut bacteria that will provide your body with a healthy immune system, beautiful skin, and a calm mind.

Q: Do the plants we need sometimes show up when we need them? Can nature really be that intuitive?

A: Yes! This is a commonly-held belief among many herbalists. You will be living someplace for 6 months, maybe a year, and suddenly you start to notice a new weed in your yard that you don’t remember seeing there before. By next year, it’s spreading even more. You finally decide to look it up and it turns out it’s something whose medicinal value addresses the exact medical problem you’ve been dealing with!