Have you ever pondered at the plants and flora scattered along your local walk and wondered if any are edible?
It’s a practice deeply rooted in our bones, a primal connection we have to a skill many of us have forgotten. For thousands of years, our ancestors were master foragers – it was a way of life, a necessity, and an important part of survival.
Forager and writer, Garry Eveleigh, is a man in-tune with the rhythms and flows of nature, with an abundance of knowledge on wild food and where to find it. He’s appeared on BBC and ITV programmes and is the author behind the brilliantly titled, Wildcook: Ceps, Shrubs & Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Born in Lymington in the 50s, for decades, Garry has long been fascinated by the natural world, from the intricate designs of flowers to the sound of birdsong.
He talks us through his younger years:
‘My parents had a pub called The Fisherman’s Rest. One of the older chaps that used to drink in there invited me to do some fishing, because I was keen. I must have been around six. On the way down to his boat in the morning, he kept picking wild plants from the hedgerows – he was saying ‘try that, try this nipper’. I was just blown away. Wow – he can survive. This bloke was picking his veg and salads before we went fishing. Food for free. I was just thinking… I like this.’
He continues: ‘It just kicked off after that. If I saw anything – a bird, a bug, an insect, or a flower, I just had to know what it was, what its name was. If it had any use. One I’ll never forget is this luminous green beetle with fat legs and it was called something like thick-thighed beetle. I thought that was cool. In those days it was searching encyclopaedias, nowadays we can find out through our phones. I was just mad on the tales of our riverbank.’
Today, we’re meandering down a gravel track next to Garry’s local pub, The Gun Inn in Keyhaven, who he forages wild ingredients for.
Garry points out and picks an abundance of wild edible food along the way – from samphire to sea purslane, horseradish to hawthorn. He says: ‘I can quite easily survive without shopping. I love walking, I walk miles and miles each week. Walking with a purpose. To come back with something that is going to be delicious and it’s free. I love it. I eat with the seasons, different things come in and out.
‘When I was at infant school, my desk was right by the window and by it was a wisteria. It was stunningly pretty, and I watched a spotted flycatcher build a nest, lay her nest, have the chicks, and fledge the chicks. I was constantly being thwacked around the ear by the teacher because every time they asked a question, I was looking out the window.’
After turning 15 without any qualifications, Garry’s parents requested he had to get a job. He remembers: ‘I liked messing around in boats and my brother was an apprentice shipwright so I became one too at Berthon.’
His brother, whom he was close to, sadly passed away in his teens as a result of a motorcycle accident, something which Garry says helped him gain a deeper understanding of just how ‘precious life can be.’
After qualifying as a shipwright, Garry ended up crewing on a boat.
‘I was quite sharp with figures and quickly realised this boat was earning a lot of money. I was being paid well but wanted more’. He chuckles, ‘So I bought a boat and start fishing myself. Paid for the boat. Bought a bigger one. It started off with oysters, then clams. Then in the summer season we went fishing for bass and dover soles – based in Lymington.’
After fishing for many years, Garry purchased a boat for pleasure trips around Lymington, which became the very successful Puffin Cruises. He explains: ‘We decided to buy a tripping boat and just do trips around Lymington, just for a summer season while we still looked for the bigger boat. 28 years later… it’s still going. I retired four years ago, and a local man bought it and it’s still doing really well.’
For the last decade of Garry’s working life, Garry became a ‘pirate’ and built his own ship called the Black Puffin. He eventually sold the boat, which is still very much in use and can be found docked at Lymington Quay.
Throughout Garry’s time fishing, foraging still played a significant part of his life and he worked with Michelin Star Chef Alex Aitken alongside The Pig and Limewood Hotels.
Despite retiring, Garry isn’t one for putting his feet up and has kept his creative side very active, writing poetry. He’s set to have his children’s book ‘The Land of Nonsense’ published later this year. His wife was unintentionally the brains behind the title, who came up with it while describing one of his daydreaming moments.
‘My wife and I were in Majorca for nearly a year and there during lockdown. I started scribbling nonsense rhymes and the kids absolutely loved them. When we got back I asked the chap who used to print my programmes for boat trips and he made my rhymes into a little book. I’ve got a publisher and later this year it will be going to print.’
Garry still enjoys picking wild, edible ingredients for The Gun, in exchange for a ‘few beers and some food.’
Head Chef, Mark Young says: ‘We put dishes together with a lot of locally sourced ingredients and Garry is an important part of that. We are really passionate about supporting local suppliers and businesses. All the fish comes from the Solent. We grow micro herbs. Everything is scratched cooked. The community aspect of the pub is very important. Generally speaking, ingredients are seasonable and only on the menu when they are’.
Garry hands over his wicker basket to Mark, spilling over with freshly picked produce saying: ‘it isn’t work – it’s fun!’
