Impressive dedication to her purpose saw the expert forager Mo Wilde only tempted to break her rule once during an entire year of living off foraged and gifted wild food. And even then, she was thwarted in her wish to eat junk food, so clearly the universe planned to keep her to her task.

Stored and preserved (by herself, mainly) food was allowed. Provided it was fungi, seaweed, berries pickled in berry gin, etc. But winter was a hungry period eating mainly meat and nuts, because that is what our ancestors could keep, although a deep freeze was allowed. Mo was concerned about scurvy. She allowed herself a hen's egg from her own hens on a day when she found a nesting bird, so had to wait until spring. Wild birds can't legally be disturbed.

Mo spent an inordinate amount of time foraging, with the aid of a car, which our ancestors didn't have, to reach further mountains, woods, fields and shores. She had to know where to look in order to save some time, and she discovered that she now has a mental map of fungi mycelia and spore patterns across a large swathe of Scots countryside, as a result.

Spring brought fresh greenery, but early summer was once again hungry because no harvests or fruits were in yet. Preparation of every meal took time, such as grinding nut and dried fungal items to make flour, grinding cleavers seeds to make a coffee, and sizzling food in a little carefully stored venison fat. When late summer and autumn arrived, feasting was the order of the day, but much of the expertly sourced fungi, seeds and fruits had to be worked on to store it ahead of winter. Fish were a welcome bonus and Mo learned how to fish, which once more requires travel, equipment and time.

If you don't know many of the plants and fungi named, there isn't a photo guide so you'll need to do some careful checking. Personally, I never recommend eating found fungi, and Mo never mentions finding larvae in them, which can occur. But she does remind us that foraging is only sustainable if a small number of people do it, and if they always leave enough new leaves, seeds, spores, etc. for the continued growth of the provider.

I learned a lot and enjoyed the read.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

An interesting read. I'm not sure if foraging is something I'd ever want to do but it has opened my eyes to what's out there and what can be utilised.

The idea of living off the land – foraging etc – is not a new subject for a book but the author tackles it in a very spontaneous way. This journey through the seasons is thoughtful, accessible and as much about reconnecting with nature as it is about foraging. A fascinating read.

I will certainly be buying a copy of this for myself, I enjoyed it so much.
Such a wonderful book that is not only informative but gives you a feel good, uplifting vibe and will make you want to get outdoors. I will be recommending this book to so many people.

Took me a long time to read this book. Sorry to say i did not enjoy it. Nothing against the authour, its just not my thing.

I thought this book was excellent and has really made me think about the food that is just growing around me. I was a bit concerned at the start that a book written as a year journal might get a bit repetitive and boring, however this really wasn't the case. The author kept me engaged with her interesting journey of a year without supermarket shopping. I learnt so much and it has made me think about what I'm eating much more. I would definitely recommend this book

Oh my goodness what a joy this book is. Mo Wilde, a herbalist living in Scotland, decided to try to live for a year solely on wild foraged foods.
I found her account of this absolutely fascinating and it was so beautifully written as well. What a gorgeous book, I have been recommending it widely.
With grateful thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an interesting book. I have long been fascinated by food and our relationship with it and foraging was somthing I knew little about. Written in a very readble style it has given me so much food for thought (excuse the pun!) and has definitely changed how I approach seasonal eating. Highly recommend.

This is an absolutely beautiful, magical read! So engaging and uplifting and a wonderful way to lose oneself for a few hours. Gorgeous stuff.

Having been fascinated by wild food and foraging for as long as I can remember, I was drawn to this title as soon as I saw the synopsis. The author took the brave step to practice what she preached and try to live for a year without buying food. I found it interesting to learn about how she decided on her guidelines and rues that would allow her to undertake this experiment whilst still living in a modern world. The writing and considerations about how our food is produced today are very thought provoking. This will hopefully help people to buy food and eat more ethically and sustainably but I fear that the main audience appeal lies with those who already try to travel that path, even if on a less radical scale than Mo Wilde.

Although I’ve enjoyed some chapters of this book, the contents were not what I expected. Overall it’s a book about food and our relationship with nature and our place in this world. There are some interesting and funny parts, but in my opinion it’s not very objective .

An amazing experience for all those who love nature, the stillnes and the importance of the present moment.
The jurnal style offered an intimate and passionate feel.
The author managed to connect me with her suroundings and visualise the wonderful nature surrounding her.
An intresting concept that with a bit more preparation would have been even more succesful.
I apreciated the atmosphere and the love for nature.

I enjoyed this book very much. It charts the course of living solely on foraged wild food for a full year.

As well as covering the daily menu of what is consumed, it describes the changes to what’s on offer through the seasons and how our bodies react to that (compared to the constant conformity of modern supermarket supply).

Through the reflections of foraging, it travels through pollution, climate change, sustainability, digestion and ecology. It also intersperses the human day-to-day life of walking around each day to get enough calories to survive.

I’d say that it would make a big difference to us all if we all lived like this (from health, obesity, mental health, climate change and sustainable farming reason), but not sure there’s enough mushrooms in the country to feed us all. It does prompt nudges to make changes to lifestyle that would make a difference.

This was an absolutely fascinating book that really made me think and review my food choices and the world around me. That the author achieved a whole year, especially within lockdown times is an incredible feat and while there is no way I have the willpower to attempt this, I will definitely be referring back to this at different points in the year to make more considered choices. Highly recommend.

My great grand mother made me learn what herbs are useful and what mushroom are edible. I was something I learn as a child and I learned something more reading and listen to the older people.
I'm always a bit wary when read books about people living in the wild foraging and blah blah.
This one is well written but some parts, like giving birth, are bit too extreme for me.
I love the message about changing our way of living.
It's well written but not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I admire anyone with the dedication and willpower to conduct an experiment which lasts a year never mind it being to only forage for food! It was a fascinating book which really made me think differently about how we live in the current era. Educational and entertaining, it gave great insight into a simpler yet more challenging food lifestyle. Fascinating stuff.

A fascinating book that documents how to live off the land by someone who is willing to put their interests and convictions into practice. I have found myself telling friends and long suffering husband of the well researched facts behind how our ancestors lived and many other wonderful facts. There is nothing more to say than read this and try not to run off into the wild, Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. Mo decides to live for an entire year on wild food. In the process, she connects deeply with nature, the seasons and her own body whilst shunning consumerism.

She writes with honesty and great beauty. I was fascinated and inspired.

I highlighted many pages, so that I could remember how to make gremolata (a mix of fresh green herbs and wild garlic immersed in oil with lemon zest) and how ground up dock seed can be added to a flan base. I loved discovering the many uses of Dandelion root, how to make cleavers seed coffee and that alexanders are a fabulous spinach substitute.

By the end of the book, I wanted to go and live with Mo and beg her to teach me more. Given that she’d probably refuse that request, a recipe book would be wonderful!

At the end of November 2020, Mo Wilde decided to embark on a year of eating wild. She's led foraging courses for many years, and frequently encountered the query 'but could you actually live on only foraged food?' - here was a chance to prove it. So on Black Friday when the rest of the world seemed overwhelmed by buying frenzy, she resolved to stop - or at least to stop buying food. In The Wilderness Cure Wilde takes us on an incredible year of only living on what she gather - nuts, shoots, leaves, mushrooms (so many mushrooms!) and occasional gifts of a culled deer or surplus salmon; all foods which would have been familiar to our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

I grew up in the country, so foraging is always something I've done a little of. As a child I went out to gather blackberries and elderberries in autumn, as an adult I've collected elderflowers in spring, sloes, crab apples, and the occasional chestnut in autumn - but the important difference is that to me they're additions to what I grow or buy. I knew that it was feasible to harvest more from wild sources - mushrooms being the obvious thing but I never had any one to teach me their secrets when young, and fresh spring leaves of hawthorn or beech which I'd rather looked on as extraordinary things for when harvests had failed. This book came as a revelation of the many, many things which can be gathered from the wild; the roots and shoots, seeds and flowers, which can be used as part of our daily food.

This book is more than a foraging diary. It digresses naturally into the author's philosophy, her belief in the Gaia world-system and how this challenge re-affirmed her connection with the Earth, into the disconnection between humans and the natural world, into the bodily changes brought on by this unusual diet, and even into archaeological research which provides historical context for 'foraging' (or 'collecting dinner' as I assume our pre-historic ancestors considered it).

It's a fascinating read, even if you've only the slightest interest in foraging but in a world based round consumption and consumerism, doing anything for yourself is an act of rebellion - and nothing more so than deciding to live on only the food you can gather for free

Beautifully written and full of positive ideas. I feel much more in touch with nature and the value of spending time with trees.