Dzikość, która uzdrawia

by Mo Wilde, Tomasz Sikora (Translator)

Mo Wilde złożyła ciche, choć jednocześnie radykalne przyrzeczenie: przez cały rok żywić się wyłącznie tym, co daje nam dzika natura. W świecie oderwanym od swoich korzeni tego rodzaju pożywienie ma nie tylko walory kulinarne czy lecznicze, ale też społeczne i polityczne. Ostatecznie jest to wyraz miłości i poczucia jedności ze światem, który nas otacza.

Wykorzystując swoją specjalistyczną wiedzę z zakresu botaniki i mykologii, Mo poszukuje w dziczy pożywnego jedzenia, na które składają się setki gatunków roślin, grzybów i wodorostów, dostosowując eksplorowane miejsca do pory roku. Przy okazji uczy się nie tylko przetrwania, ale także jak właściwie prosperować. Specyficzny typ odżywiania ciała i umysłu pogłębia jej połączenie z ziemią – połączenie, które co prawda większość z nas porzuciła, ale którego w głębi duszy wciąż pragnie. Ten głód oznacza coś więcej niż tylko łaknienie. Chodzi o akceptację i zrozumienie naszego miejsca w naturalnej sieci powiązań, która jest zarówno zdumiewająco złożona, jak i cudownie prosta.

Książka ta jest swego rodzaju dziennikiem szalonego eksperymentu. Inspirujące i ciągle aktualne spostrzeżenia autorki, oscylujące wokół badania głębokich relacji między człowiekiem a naturą, przypominają nam o niezwykle ważnej, choć zapomnianej lekcji z naszej przeszłości.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Food, Ecology, Plants, Memoir

424 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Scotland one November, when the Black Friday sales were live, Mo Wilde decided to challenge herself to live on food that was foraged from the land, avoiding using any supermarkets for food for 12 months. Just the very thought of living off of the land fills me with a sense of radical excitement, having that freedom to fend for oneself whilst discovering new foods to cook with, but, it also makes me nervous leaving me wondering whether I could actually manage like that for such a long period of time.

I know of people that regularly forage from the land, and despite the rumours, it isn't actually a hippy thing. Many people make that choice, and Wilde was one of them.

This book contains her journey throughout the 12 months of foraging, and I thought it was fascinating for people interested in doing so. Wilde started this challenge rather fortunate, as she has stores of herbs and preserves, so she gave herself a head start. Every few months she sends off samples to check how her gut is coping with this change of diet.

Wilde speaks of the different seasons, and the various foraging foods that are available during that time. She speaks of the wildlife that is present on her searches, and how going without a certain amount of vitamins or minerals can have a large impact on our bodies. She regularly talks of mushrooms, and eats many of them on her challenge. I personally love mushrooms, and I found it interesting to learn of the various types. I think the only item she ate that I wouldn't be able to is pigeon. I just couldn't go there.

I loved reading about the woodlands and beautiful countryside. I love forest bathing so someone that appreciates the same thing was a pleasure to read about.

One can easily find information about foraging and the different healing properties of various plants and herbs online, but this book had just that bit extra. It contained humour, honesty and a person that beat her challenge.

[Lauren pavey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit of blurb : A captivating and lyrical journey into our ancestral past, through what and how we eat. Mo Wilde made a quiet but radical pledge: to live only off free, foraged food for an entire year. In a world disconnected from its roots, eating wild food is both culinary and healing, social and political.

This was a book of two halves for me . I found it to be a fascinating journal however I just wasn’t able to fully embrace the book and the concept of foraging as much as I wished due to my limited mobility.

I relished disconnecting from my phone, Wandering into the forest, sitting down and appreciating my surroundings.

This book also reminds us to be mindful not just about what foods we are consuming but our foods origin. Where is it from, what food is sitting just outside your front door and is the food your eating even in season?
This book really has me viewing food origin in a whole new way.

Thank you to the author and tandem collective for having me along on this little readalong and for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Northern Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I loved its premise - the idea of not buying anything from a shop/supermarket for a year, of living of foraged and wild food. I have read and enjoyed other books talking about people living off the wild. I didn't like this book as much as I'd hoped though. It didn't take me long to get bored of being told what the author had eaten ... it seemed to me at the beginning to be a lot of venison, mushrooms and wild greens (and I have to admit that I haven't managed to make it to the end of the book to see if this improves). I was also a bit disappointed that in a book on foraging and wild food the author seemed to eat a lot of food that whilst from the wild at some point had either been in her freezer or was given by friends - this seemed to be cheating to me (although I appreciate the author may totally disagree). The author tells you at the start that she begins her project in late Autumn and that she should perhaps have waited because she had not prepared as well as she could ... and I really did feel that this book might have been better if she' had waited a bit longer and perhaps had prepared more so that she would be foraging for every meal herself. Some pictures - some actual recipes - something like that would also have made this a bit more interesting.

[Elainedav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book. Mo Wilde sets out to eat only foraged food for a whole year. She starts quite spontaneously, without much planning or storing of foraged foods. And she starts in the winter when there is least availability of natural foods to collect!

I really liked the way the book is structured. It is set out in sections following the seasons and within that is written in diary style - not a chapter for every day, but each entry is dated. The story of the year gently unfolds with other stories woven in, which range from meetings with friends and family to the authors thoughts on big issues such as climate change. It is very clear that Mo has read widely about the things she writes about. Each chapter starts with a quotation from a text - very varied texts in fact from Walden to Graham Greene and Rachel Carson to Douglas Adams. As a committed reader I appreciate this alot. And then the text is reference to many relevant scientific papers. But the book doesn't read as an academic piece - it is very accessible, readable and relatable.

Having said that, a few times I found I was drifting a bit. There were a few points which seemed slightly repetitive. I was also a little disappointed that the lab results of the tests exploring the effects of this wild diet on the author's microbiome were not more thoroughly explained. This is why I rated the book as a four star rather than five star read.

Small spoiler now - my absolute favourite thing in this book is the idea of convincing people to eat organic food by offering them a glass of the permitted daily amount of pesticide and or herbicide to pour over their food like a dressing. Genius! I think this is one 'takeaway' from the book that will stay with me forever.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes memoirs and especially those which explore nature, health and the environment. This book sits on my mental bookshelf alongside others such as Wilding by Isabella Tree, Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard, The Wild Remedy by Emma Mitchell and many others.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Fiona Shuttleworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mo Wilde is crazy in the best way - following her journey was funny, intense, thought provoking and barmey all in one. Definitely changed my opinion re what I eat and when and also has sparked a desire for foraging - except defo not in London ! Would recommend

[Pauline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not as I expected, in parts was interesting but not enough to keep me reading without breaking off to read other books in between.

[Fern Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should start this review by saying I don’t really understand what the big fuss is about food. Yes it keeps us alive and is required for fuel but beyond that I have very little interest. If I could take one pill a day that gave me everything I needed rather than have to eat meals I would. It maybe seems very odd therefore that I would choose to read something about food, however the blurb of this did make me curious to know how this experiment of sorts would change the author and their own view of food, fuel and things relating to this.

Mo Wilde decides on a Black Friday sales day that she is going to see if it is possible to live off the land (foraging, gathering, not purchasing in a shop food) for a year. This book records her year, the highs and lows, what was learnt along the way and the benefits of what she does manage to accomplish. While Wilde does state her diet before starting mainly consisted of a vegetable stir-fry for breakfast, snack for lunch and cheese and crackers for dinners so not your typical diet of processed food today (this experiment would probably have had a lot more withdrawal problems and been harder for someone who didn’t eat like Wilde before), it nevertheless is a challenge. We follow the author as she visits various places in Scotland, goes to stay in Poland and also has to juggle lockdown with one walk only a day, not easy when you need to find your food!

Wilde did not make me any more interested in food. However she did make me a lot more interested in humans connection to earth and it’s resources, often right underneath our noses. I absolutely loved her writing and when she ventured off on tangents on folklore, history, place names and also the science behind plants and what they can offer us I was enthralled! I found it especially interesting to learn how her year of wild food impacted her medically and her daily life.

While this experiment or lifestyle would not be possible for everyone (commuters with office jobs will not be able to spend daily hours hunting for nutrients from plants) many very important points are made. We are losing our connection with the Earth which is not a good thing. The way we eat and what we eat is not, in the long run, really doing anyone any favours. So while I don’t think we should all embrace a 24/7 diet of foraging I am convinced having read this we need to start leaning far more towards a natural lifestyle where we recognise what we can get from the land and world around us and not just as a thing to be consumed or purchased but as something that is a larger ecosystem. That may all sound idealistic but actually as Wilde does show it is possible for it to become reality.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[E Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. There were lots of great parts in this book; my favourites including, Mo's visit to Poland, various details on medicinal uses of plants/fungi, and the history of how our ancestors ate (how on earth did I not realise that milk was once only available in spring!) However ... I ultimately DNF. I found that this book was quite repetitive and occasionally overly indulgent in metaphor use for my personal taste. I don't think this is any fault of the author- this was her writing debut- but any good editor should have spotted this before print. Perhaps I could have finished it then!

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book where Mo Wilde spends a year living off the land. She only eats food that she has foraged, or been given off by her friends and neighbours which they have foraged, she started the process during lock down during Covid and was a size 18-20, a year later she is size 10-12. Whilst reading the book it made you appreciate the food we have and also makes you think differently about food and what I was wasting. It gave me an insight on what things you can eat which I had never thought about.

[Philippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compulsively readable, engaging and compelling book about a woman who decides to spend an entire year eating only wild food - what she can forage. And the challenge begins at the end of 2020 just as Scotland is heading into winter...

I think a lot of us would like to think we eat seasonally and locally, but this book showed me that there's a lot more I could be doing to tread more lightly on the earth. One scene from the book has had a profound impact on me - when Mo floats the idea of making a video to encourage people to eat organic food. She proposes making a gorgeous dinner full of organic produce, then placing it in front of people who aren't convinced of the benefits organic food, along with a shot glass of the legal amounts of pesticide and herbicide that you'd typically ingest with non-organic food, to pour over their food like a dressing. What a brilliant idea. I think such a video would go viral and have an incredible impact. Mo, if you're reading, crowd-fund for this video to be made!

The majority of the book reads very well and the author is clearly incredibly knowledgeable about wild food, herbs and natural remedies, the detail of which I really enjoyed. It lost its focus occasionally and drifted into repetition at times, but this is a very minor complaint.

Highly recommended to anyone interested in foraging, eating locally (that's an understatement!) and the natural world. Mo's passion and commitment is obvious and admirable in this very enjoyable and, I think, important book.

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

[Felicity · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this amazing book in one sitting. It does in fact merit a longer reading but it’s a page-turner and I devoured it avidly (though less so some of her desperate wintry meals).
The Wilderness Cure is so much more than the blurb suggests, it has something for everyone: historians, archaeologists, linguists , botanists, farmers, chefs, scientists, eco-warriors and more. The pages brim with fascinating information and gentle musings. Facets of the author’s personality shine through: she is adventurous yet wistful, bold yet kind, self-confident yet humble, romantic yet honest, above all she is thoughtful and wise. Mo’s deep respect and love for Gaia are an inspiration. The points she makes are well-considered and 100% relevant to the current state of the globe and how we live on it today, and tomorrow.
The book is beautifully crafted and developed, the language poetic, witty and highly evocative. There are touches of comedy, cinema, frivolity then moments of sadness and despair. I never expected to be so moved by this book, and I thank Mo Wilde from the bottom of my heart for having made this journey then generously shared it with us all.

[Sonia Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

In April 2022 I had my first experience of a led forage by Lisa Cutliffe which had me hooked, so followed this up with a Yorkshire costal forage. When I saw this book in Netgalley I was immediately attracted to it and by the authors desire to spend a year feeding herself with foraged food.
The book is divided into seasons, is part diary, musings, thoughts on foraging, seasonality, what to forage and recipes. The seasonality of food is part of our history and shapes our landscapes, which in these times seem to be limited to wild garlic in Spring, blackberry picking in September or scrumping apples.
The book is a joy and can be dipped into, used as a resource to inspire foraging and what to look out for. The courses I have been on and the tips in this book have led me to look more closely at the vegetation I pass through, as there is much more to eat than could be imagined.
I value the led foraging I have been on and this book is a fabulous resource to support these experiences.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC as always much appreciated. All views are my own

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book that I will keep forever to be able to read different chapters again. So much important knowledge that you won't easily find elsewhere. There are many foraging books out there, but this one really shows how eating wild foods is done, which struggles she has, what she eats when, etc. That said, it is a bit hard to get through now and then. It functions more like a study book than literature (obviously).

[Kate Hyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

An immensely readable book, whether you're sold on the idea of foraging, or whether you think it's for crazy hippies. Mo Wilde certainly isn't crazy - the only impulsive thing she does is start her year-long challenge of living solely off of foraged food at the tail end of November in Scotland, and even then, she is far better prepared than other people might be, with a larder full of nutritious dried herbs and preserves, bags of chestnuts for flour etc. She very sensibly sets herself allowable parameters, and sends off quarterly samples to a lab to check the effects on her gut biome and other health markers.
But she is a clinical herbalist by trade, so she is quite aware of eg. how certain minor problems like dry skin might be affected by a shortage of magnesium, and what potential steps she might take to alleviate the issue.
The almost-daily catalogue of her diet, and how she acquires it is interspersed with her meditations on the seasons, local wildlife and plants, archaeological and anthropological studies on present-day and ancient hunter-gatherer societies, her activities during this time (including a 36-hour home birth, a holiday in Orkney, and a trip to Eastern Europe), and the inevitable lament over the destruction we have done to our wonderful planet.
There are plenty of foraging books out there already, and the internet is full of sites on the identification, and culinary and medicinal uses of the different plants, but what makes this different is Wilde's willing self-experimentation, her humour, her honesty (my favourite the time she broke down and drove to the local chipper, only to find it closed), and her generosity. She shows us the abundant diversity that still exists in our woodlands and waste ground, despite our attempt to concrete or tar over everything, and how our lives could literally be transformed with even just a small bit of attention to the world that surrounds us.

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was very unique in terms of the experience that the author describes. I’m passionate about nature and sustainability but I think I’d be interesting in this even if I wasn’t already interested in this topic. Attempting such an undertaking felt really bold and the author’s description of it is really compelling in places. Given her motivations, I felt that the subject was very topical and I found her recount of the whole experience very inspiring.

The journal style made the experience feel very immediate and I loved to travel through each day and season with her. It allowed us to experience her ups and downs, which made me want to read on.

The writing is beautifully descriptive; however, I did find it a little repetitive in places (we’re told several times at the start that she won’t eat butter) and I also felt that it was a little ‘preachy’ in places too, which was off-putting at times. Further to this, I think that some people might be put off by the many extraneous historical details, but I really, really enjoyed them (especially as I live near to the areas being described).

Overall, a very good read and one that I would definitely recommend to gardening friends and to our sustainability group at work who often forage (on a small scale) for wild food. I read this electronically so I’m not sure if the printed copy has more images but I would have loved to see illustrations of the wild food described.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found The Wilderness Cure to give a fascinating insight into the world or wild food and foraging throughout the seasons. I would love to be able to ditch supermarket shopping and live off the land which is exactly what the author of this book did for a whole year.

The Wilderness Cure is written in diary format and Mo journals about what can be foraged in that month/season. I found what Mo was finding to eat quite interesting at first but found it became repetitive as the book went on. I would have liked some illustrations and recipes to go alongside the diary entries.

The wild diet seemed to be very mushroom and meat heavy which would be problematic for a complete novice vegetarian such as myself. I certainly wouldn't have a clue which mushrooms were not poisonous and wouldn't want to go back to eating meat. I couldn't see myself giving up my little vegetable patch either.

However the message in the book is very clear. If we don't make significant changes in the way we eat and mass produce food it will have an irreversible effect on the planet and our health.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Mr S Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible book! A timely reminder of the world around us and its importance. This book instills wonderful healthy nature mindfulness and to most, a little bit of 1st world guilt to remind us to look down, slow down and nurture the wonders around us. Every page holds a myriad of fascination, not just food and foraging, but Scotland, nature, and all of her creatures. The Wilderness Cure reminded me a little bit of the first time I read “Sapiens” by Yuval Harari, just so many fascinating nuggets and so beautifully written, colourful, and at times deeply personal.. Warning! Don't read this book on an empty stomach as some of the foods will have you seriously salivating.

[KEREN BRYNES MACLEAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Mo’s book while on a canal holiday, enjoying the slow life. Saturated with nature along the tow paths. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and couldn’t wait to dip into it again every evening.

It is so much more than a book about foraging. It is a book about the environment and about our health, about our place on this fragile planet of ours and about food, about community and our social history.

I forage as a hobby and I am a bit of a foodie. I am a Medical Herbalist and I garden too. So this book was right up my street and gave me lots to think about.

I always consider that I eat seasonally and to some extent I do, but reading about Mo’s experience it made me reconsider whether my diet is that seasonal after all. I might eat salad in the summer and soups and stews in the winter, but carbs feature all year round. Yet in northern climes the wild carbs can be very limited except in the autumn months. If I want to tame my weight should I become more seasonal with carbs, proteins and fats ?

I love the idea of packing in herbs and wild foods as antioxidants to support immune well being and I feel encouraged to forage more plants for the pot...To date mushrooms have been my main passion. But now I’m curious. Will I try tree salad in the spring?

Mo has tested her microbiome throughout the book and to me this is of particular interest. I look forward to hearing more about this from Mo in the future, but it was really interesting to note that her microbiome changed dramatically through the year.

But this wasn’t just about the physical impact of a wild diet. Living closer to nature feeds the soul and this is a take home from this book. In an age of over consumption and linear timelines, it’s a call for traditional cycles, to reconnect with nature and to demand less of the planet and of ourselves.

I loved this book. Passed it to my mum, who kept her nose in it until finished and have recommended it to friends.

Mo writes beautifully. Her deep passion is palpable throughout.

If you are looking for ways to be well, connect with nature and enjoy good healthy food it’s a must have for your book shelf. Enjoy.

[Katy Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wilderness Cure by Mo Wilde

By the end of the first chapter I had ordered a copy of this book for a friend. And now I’ve reached the end I am planning to go back to the beginning and start again.

Yes, I loved it! There is so much information in there and Mo Wilde’s writing style takes us along on the year long adventure into surviving on only foraged food.

It doesn’t take long to realise that most of us – including me – wouldn’t last a week. Where has all that knowledge gone? Our ancestors lived from the land and the sea, they passed on this vital information from generation to generation but yet we find ourselves here in the 21st century without a clue what to eat or where to find it.

In the book Mo steers a careful path between giving us facts – the plants eaten, the animals respectfully taken as part of the diet – and her own process. I’d have liked to know more about her feelings and struggles but if she’d gone down that route the book would have been even longer.

I had to stop regularly to look up plants – even common ones like plantain or alexanders. It felt like I was being invited to explore a whole new world.

I made notes on – or as I read it on Kindle, I highlighted - all the information on what is edible and what it is for. I didn’t know for example that you could eat hawthorn flowers and leaves. And it is helpful for high blood pressure which I am struggling with at the moment. It made me go out and look at my hawthorn trees and see them anew.

There’s so much in this book which is inspiring and exciting and daunting (will we all be relying on these foods in the near future? I also think the answer is yes) . All I can say is go out and buy it, read it and keep it close to your heart. I’ve also bought a foraging book now and am planning to do a course in my local area as soon as possible.

Thank you Mo Wilde for sharing this wonderful journey.
And thank you Netgalley for letting me read it for review

#thewildernesscure#foraging#mowilde#netgalley

[karla_bookishlife · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wilderness Cure by Mo Wilde is an inspirational and fascinating journal encouraging us to disconnect from our phones and reconnect with nature and our ancestral past by foraging for foods that will help us thrive rather than merely survive.
It shows rather than preaches, as we follow Mo on her own journey. She teaches foraging, but had been mulling over the efficacy of living entirely off the land for the whole year. This book is her diary of that experience.
It is so eye-opening to learn how our ancient ancestors changed diets according to the calendar. It certainly made me question the appeal of all the modern fad diets. Variation rather than rigidity to one style of eating seems more apt. I have always taken a rather simplistic and naive view of eating seasonally according to what fruit and vegetables are available locally in the shops. According to our ancestral calendars, whole food groups would have changed as the year progressed due to availability.
This book has encouraged me to consider varying my diet, foraging a little, trying to grow my own food or source locally grown and organic products in a manner that will benefit my health and the local environment. I doubt I could committ wholly like Mo Wilde, but I could definitely make small beneficial changes.
I enjoyed switching off from technology while reading and exploring the book and nature. I have been telling so many people about this book. I think my next step will be familiarising myself further with the local land and produce.
The Wilderness Cure has been a lesson on returning to nature and its healing energy. With thanks to Monica Wilde, Schuster&Schuster and TandemCollectiveUk for this readalong. #thewildernesscure #mowilde

[Nikita · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

This book shines where Wilde presents their sentiments towards the Earth and can be useful for developing your own spiritual attitudes and connections to our planet. It is useful for making you accept our destruction to our planet and presenting attitudes to adopt in order to live more sustainably and compassionately. I will retain this book as a reminder of attitudes I'm learning to adopt and reminding me to commit to treating this Earth better. This book also shines when exploring how we developed eating as we know it today, and questioning different misconceptions about food history.

My gripes with this book is that the majority of the content is monotonous. It is written as a diary of most days of the author's wild year. There can be plenty of sections where you're reading over and over again what was foraged, and what meal was cooked. Without a reference point of what these plants look or taste like, it can be hard to picture these meals and thus just get bored. This book would have benefited from some pictures of some of these wild foods. Last year I read Counting Sheep on the history of sheep farming and it included images of different breeds which helped visualise and understand the content.

This book should also be taken with precaution if you are prone to disordered eating. Whilst Wilde states various times that the goal of this journey was not to lose weight, there is significant mention of how much weight was lost and the number of calories consumed. Whilst not Mo's intention, I would worry that some people could cherry pick and be influenced by these sections of the book.

Overall, this book was intriguing but could've been shortened or even written as an essay.

[Greenreadsbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because I have an interest in foraging, wild food and sustainability. I was really interested in the idea of living on only foraged food for a whole year. I was quite surprised to find that the author had started her journey in November with no pre planning - this seemed to be an odd decision! I then discovered that she was going to using previously foraged food and preserved food and was allowing herself to eat gifted food, which made me wonder if this was cheating a little. I enjoyed the style of writing which was very evocative and the descriptions of her surroundings were beautiful. As a vegan I struggled with some of the descriptions of animal use and felt that meat was quite heavily used. I love mushrooms and was interested in the variety of mushrooms found and used. I felt the author was very creative in coming up with her meals! This is a book I have dipped in and out of rather than reading in one go but I wonder if it would be better read through in one go. it has to be remembered that this was an experiment and not something that most people could achieve, although it has spurred me on to think more about what I eat ad when and to do more foraging. The author clearly had to devote a lot of time to foraging and preparing food which is not realistic for most people. There were some really interesting sections about nutrition and seasonal eating relating back to our ancestral ways of consuming food. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in foraging, wild food, and the history and anthropology of food and eating. many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Bee Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have an academic interest in foraging and survival. I think we all should be doing a lot more of it. I haven't turned my academic interest into reality because I'm aware that you should always start out with someone who knows what they're doing. I thought this would be a half step in the right direction.

However, it's not what I expected at all. There are no recipes or identifying pictures here. (That's probably in an effort to avoid being sued, which I can understand and whole heartedly endorse.) This is more of a stream of consciousness, spread over a year, as Mo connects the food she's gathering now with the way our ancestors would have lived. There are plenty of entries that have nothing to do with food, but are Mo musing on a sunset or a hill or murmuration.

(Note: There is a table at the back that lists every plant she gathers over the year and talks about each a bit, but the formatting on my ebook proof was so badly messed up that it's illegible - I can't tell which bits of information go with which. In a printed copy that won't be an issue, of course.)

It's all very interesting musing - picturing our ancestor's hunting grounds as a daisy really helped me grasp it - and I'm fascinated that she did manage to forage enough to keep alive and healthy. It's not as instructional as I had hoped, but that's probably on me for misunderstanding the blurb.

I think this would make a fascinating TV series - perhaps four episodes, one for each season? - and I did enjoy the read. I recommend it to others. Just be aware of what you're getting.

[Hannah Birkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been waiting to read this book ever since Mo announced it was to be published and when I finally got my hands on it I devoured it in one sitting. I loved it so much. I've been living abroad for the past year and so miss the Scottish countryside and all the beings that inhabit the woods, marshes, coasts, and hedgerows. It was a delight to reconnect with that old 'lover' nature and see how Mo navigated her year of foraging. This is definitely not an experiment that just anyone could do as it would require quite a hefty knowledge of plant ID beforehand, but it should start people off on their own foraging journeys/challenge us on where we currently get our food/how we can make a difference with our fork/wallet.

The descriptions of the meals do get a little repetitive at times, however, this serves to prove the author's point that there's very little to eat during the winter! I imagine her experience of these meals was far more repetitive than ours. Would have loved to have seen some pictures/illustrations of the meals perhaps. Also, I was desperately awaiting the analysis of the micro-biome testing at the end, which never came. Some folks have criticised the use of previously foraged food/gifts from friends, however, our ancestors had their own means of preserving/storing food and trading with others, so I don't feel that this detracts from the experiment.

Absolutely recommend this to anyone interested in reconnecting with their ancestral roots/local environment :-)

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mo is an articulate, passionate, kind, well read and engaging writer. It doesn't take long to realise that you are in good hands as you follow her progress through the year. What really stands out for me is the wider context in which foraging is placed. Oftentimes, at least in the UK, it can be depicted as a middle class pass time or a slight flourish, perhaps ancillary to a woodland or countryside walk. Here it becomes the beating heart of life just as it would have done for 99% of the humans that came before us.

Wilde finds a new rhythm, one that allows her to ponder questions like, "do birds play". Her curious mind helps to set small seeds that will grow inside, moving you back to the wild human you didn't realise you've always been longing to become.

I had to buy a copy in the end, rather than rely on a library copy. I find I continue to refer back to Wilde's year as the shadows shorten and the earth fills once again with its abundance. It helps give me an understanding of what to expect in my own wild patches. Not just in terms of plants but the wider world too.

There is a love affair in this book, a polygamous one. Wilde is in love with the world, its plants, creatures, fungi and people and that love will emanate from the page. Read it to learn about foraging and the natural world. Read it to realise there is a loving world just waiting for you to rejoin it.

Thank Mo Wilde for enlightening us all.

[Sarah Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read this book!

Well, I loved it.

Mo does a crazy thing. She decides, on Black Friday, no less, to live off wild food for a year. It's a way of connecting more deeply with the natural world and stepping away from consumerism.

It's fascinating to watch. Winter - with no special preparation, no stores - is tough. This is Scotland, there are limited resources, and yet, somehow, she makes it through. Spring is easier, summer - surprisingly - is hard again - autumn is bountiful.

That journey through the seasons is one facet. Mo's musings on foraging as a lifestyle, on our disconnect from nature, on the deepening of her connection with the natural world - these add real depth - and threw up lots of things to ponder on. Her insistence on food being interesting and enjoyable is inspirational. Her changing body - inside and out - is another dimension. We eat the same diet pretty much all year round - maybe more in the way of comfort food in the winter, maybe more in the way of salads in the summer. We eat too many carbs and far too much sugar. Mo's diet is much more dependent on the seasons: gorging on fresh greens in the spring, lots and lots of funghi, finding a place for meat.

The only thing missing was a recipe section. Maybe Mo will give us a recipe book next?

I'm going to read this again. And maybe again after that.

[mariuszowelektury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mo Wilde zabiera nas w niecodzienną podróż do świata natury, w którym żywność, lecznicze rośliny i dzikość stają się kluczem do zdrowia, równowagi i głębszego zrozumienia siebie. Autorka, będąca zarówno ekspertem w dziedzinie dzikiej roślinności, zielarstwa, zbieractwa, łączy w swoim dziele osobiste doświadczenia, wiedzę naukową i refleksje filozoficzne.

Centralnym tematem książki jest idea dzikości – zarówno w kontekście fizycznym, jak i duchowym. Wilde przedstawia naturę jako coś więcej niż zasób do wykorzystania – to przestrzeń pełna mądrości, która może pomóc nam wyleczyć nie tylko ciało, ale i umysł. Na kartach książki znajdziemy relacje z życia w zgodzie z naturalnym rytmem. Autorka nie unika także trudnych pytań o naszą współczesną alienację od przyrody i jej konsekwencje dla zdrowia psychicznego i fizycznego.

Dowiadujemy się o właściwościach leczniczych dzikich roślin, korzyściach płynących z diety opartej na lokalnych surowcach i roli mikrobiomu, który możemy wspierać dzięki bliskości z naturą. Równocześnie autorka dzieli się swoimi przemyśleniami i emocjami, co sprawia, że książka ma walory edukacyjne, ale i głęboko osobiste

Książka Mo Wilde to manifest życia w zgodzie z naturą, który zachęca do zwolnienia tempa i ponownego odkrycia bogactwa dzikiego świata. Przypomina, że droga do zdrowia i harmonii prowadzi przez odnowienie naszej relacji z przyrodą.

[Katherine Rushton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a seminal work on food sovereignty, and as a forager and wild eater, I applaud the author for her efforts in bringing foraging, wild eating, and ancestral lifeways into the mainstream.

My main critique relates to the importance of native language and reference.

The author repeatedly uses the term 'Gaia'. I found this to be confusing and distasteful and reduced her expertise in my eyes since this is a Greek word for the Earth / Mother Nature. Given that the author is promoting native British plants and ancestral practices, she should really be referring to our great Mother using a native term such as Modron or simply Mother Nature / Mother Earth.

She also refers to Autumn Equinox as 'Mabon' and Summer Solstice as 'Litha.' These names were associated with the seasons as recently as the 1970s by Aidan Kelly. I personally feel that in a book about ancient lifeways, the modernity of such associations ought to be mentioned.

And 'Earrach' is not a Celtic word. It's Gaelic. 'Celtic' is not a language. The word for 'spring' in Proto-Celtic is 'wesn' or 'ferrako' (the sound 'f" is actually depicted with a symbol that is not featured on my keypad).

[Lauren pavey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit of blurb : A captivating and lyrical journey into our ancestral past, through what and how we eat. Mo Wilde made a quiet but radical pledge: to live only off free, foraged food for an entire year. In a world disconnected from its roots, eating wild food is both culinary and healing, social and political.

This was a book of two halves for me . I found it to be a fascinating journal however I just wasn’t able to fully embrace the book and the concept of foraging as much as I wished due to my limited mobility.

I relished disconnecting from my phone, Wandering into the forest, sitting down and appreciating my surroundings.

This book also reminds us to be mindful not just about what foods we are consuming but our foods origin. Where is it from, what food is sitting just outside your front door and is the food your eating even in season?
This book really has me viewing food origin in a whole new way.

Thank you to the author and tandem collective for having me along on this little readalong and for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mo Wilde decides, as a committed forager, to live 'off the land' for a year from Black Friday. That's it, that's the premise. And what a wild ride it is, too. It really is a fascinating journey, written beautifully by Wilde about the bodily effects, as well as the trials faced by foraging during different times of the year in Scotland. You have to take your hat off to someone who can go through the various stages of what amounts, at times, to be starvation; who was once a vegetarian, forced, of course by circumstance to eat meat and who manages to make the recipes sound delicious. I learned a lot through reading this book, and it was compelling, too, to continue reading to find out whether this project is a success, and the effects thereof. I'm not saying, you have to read it. And you should read it, anyway.

Highly recommended. My thanks to Netgalley for the early copy.