Hello and welcome! 🙂
I’m James, founder of The Forager Within. Having grown up on a farm in North Yorkshire, I’ve always loved the countryside, food, and the natural world at large. As a young child, I used to pick plums from our plum trees and sell them on the side of the road – my first taste of foraging and entrepreneurship. Who knew that over 30 years later, I’d effectively be doing the same things – foraging and entrepreneurship! I’m sure there’s something poetic there, but I digress…
I have many happy memories of nature walks that either my mum or dad would take me on where we’d observe the wild-life, soak up the trees, pick field mushrooms for dinner, blackberries to eat on the go, nettles for soup, and so on. So it’s fair to say I was immersed in nature from an early age.
Once I got into adulthood, I never advanced my knowledge of foraging beyond what I’d done and learned as a young child, until 2015 onwards. It was a personal disaster that resulted in me hitting rock-bottom in 2015 that ultimately led me back to foraging, the things I truly loved, and a life true to who I am, revitalised by nature and free from the influence of societal and peer pressures.
My Twenties
I studied Agriculture at University with Honours in Food Quality and Production, but by the time I had finished my Degree, I had moved well away from the idea of going into farming or even necessarily staying in the Agricultural or commercial food industry, so I considered my options and in the end, did something quite different – I went into the wine industry with a company called Majestic Wine!
On the face of it, this was a world away from farming and agriculture, but it did involve learning about viticulture and all the different grape varieties and so on, which of course did have some nice overlap with some of the things I had studied at University. I spent almost ten happy years in the wine industry, most of that time spent in stores as a manager, but I was lucky enough to also go on multiple trips worldwide, visiting vineyards and wineries as special treats for sales performance! I even get to apply some of the knowledge gained to my foraging business, as I occasionally run “wild food and wine tastings” for private groups!
The Downward Spiral
While working for Majestic Wine, my marriage unfortunately ended in divorce. It was not a messy divorce by any means, but as you can appreciate, divorce is never nice or easy even when it’s amicable and straightforward. I was still at Majestic Wine, but my life felt empty, and I searched for more excitement as an escape from my reality. Unfortunately, I discovered it in a way that led me to quit my job and go down what proved to be a very dark path!
For a while after quitting my job, I lived the dream (but interestingly, looking back, I certainly wasn’t what I would call incredibly happy and fulfilled), but to cut a much longer story short, my life eventually went into a downward spiral. In 2012 I was on top of the world but by 2014 I was sleeping in my car, and I finally hit rock-bottom in 2015, having gone through a mental, emotional and financial hell.
Bouncing Back
I’m pleased to say that since the day I hit rock-bottom, my life has only got better. I’m proud of how quickly and how well I recovered and re-built my life in every single area. The transformation of my life has been remarkable, and I can honestly say I have built a life of happiness, fulfilment and world-class mental health through a lot of hard work, positivity and help and support from family and best friends. There’s no doubt reconnecting to nature and the countryside through walking, hiking, and foraging has helped me re-build and transform my life, mentally and emotionally.
During the lockdowns of 2020 and early 2021, I was Furloughed from my job in the travel industry and took the opportunity to accelerate and double down on my Foraging learning. I even took a Foraging Diploma!
It was also during the lockdowns that I reflected on and realised just how fantastic foraging and everything else I did that connected me to nature had been for me. Walks, hikes, foraging and learning about nature in general had re-connected me with nature which reminded me of a David Attenborough interview I saw once. I can’t remember the exact quotes or anything, but the interviewer asked something like “when did you find your love for the natural world”, and David Attenborough replied with something like “when did you lose yours!?”. It sums up what is so true – we are born with an innate love of nature! You only have to see the fascination kids have with bugs or leaves when they are put amongst nature to realise this. The trouble is, as we grow older, this modern world that we have constructed takes us away from nature, and before we know it, we are completely disengaged and disconnected from this magnificent world. I know all this from my own first-hand experience! I genuinely think this is one reason of admittedly many more, as to why we have a mental health crisis in the world today. I believe that re-connecting with the natural world can have amazingly positive effects on your happiness, confidence and physical and mental health.
Where I am Now
I currently live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire (UK), with my fantastic wife Anita. As well as my many years of foraging experience, I also have a Level 3 Inland Foraging Practitioner Qualification and Level 3 Award in Forest School First Aid.
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Away from running The Forager Within, I love hiking, wine, James Bond, cacti and crocodiles! Yes, crocodiles! Don’t worry, I don’t have any pet crocodiles, but they are my favourite animal, which always amused Anita when we first met and introduced her to just how weird I am!
As for the cacti, I’ve always been fascinated by them from an early age. I’m not entirely sure where this came from, but I feel it was from seeing them in Snoopy cartoons as a child (I LOVED the Peanuts cartoons and books). This was a childhood passion that I recently got back into, and I have amassed quite the collection at home and enjoy looking at them and propagating them!
You’ll notice a theme across many of the things I love. For example, crocodiles are a fascinating part of NATURE. Cacti are a fascinating plant of NATURE. Hiking gets me out the door and into NATURE. And, of course, walking in the woods and foraging even more directly connects me to NATURE.
I’m so grateful to have re-connected to nature and all the incredible benefits it bestows. My mission now is to help others connect to nature through foraging and improve physical and mental health in the process. Thanks for reading my story, and I hope to see you one day on one of my courses.