Lieve Galle,
your expert in wild foraging
I am Lieve, Wild ‘wyf’
and plant whisperer
I grew up in ‘Thistle street’ and was partly raised by cuckoo flowers, weeping willows, dandelions and crab apples.
For more than 20 years, I have been translating plant stories to human ears with endless passion.
When I was young, navigating the human world didn’t always come easily to me. But one day my eyes fell on a peculiar leaflet. “Course in Herbalism” it said. My heart started to pound wildly and my feral soul bolted.
In 2002, I graduated as a Herbalist (EANG — European Academy for natural health care) and as a Nature Guide (CVN Natuurpunt — the Nature Academy of Natuurpunt, NGO for nature conservation).
I immediately turned my passion into my (side) job and founded Wild Plant Forager. I wanted others to discover this exciting world that had opened up to me as well. I started teaching in workshops, guided walks and short courses.
Have you ever wondered
what it would be like to work with the plants surrounding you,
just like our ancestors did?
I just couldn’t get enough and kept immersing myself in the power of plants. How endlessly delightful to get to know their names, qualities and habitats!
Tea sommelier, hydrosol therapy, algotherapy, plant-based food … they all inspired me. One great plant adventure!
How many edible wild plants can you sum up in your neighbourhood?
Or is it all a big green blur to you?
Not much later the artist collective Irma Firma knocked on my door. Would I be interested in joining their project ‘How To Survive In A City’? The project wanted to let people discover the wild food growing between paving stones, in Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven, Kortrijk, Amsterdam, … It was a huge success.
Commuters in tailored suits on their knees, picking daisies for the soup, I’ll never forget that image!
In 2007 I was invited as a guest teacher at the Strawberry Moon Gathering in Lily Dale, USA — a gathering of indigenous people passing on traditional knowledge from (grand)mother to (grand)child.
It was one of those experiences that turned my life upside down. When I came back home, I handed in my resignation at the organic shop where I was working, so I could completely focus on plants from then on.
Everyone said I was crazy. A herbalist? As a main occupation? In Belgium?
In those days, it was considered to be completely unachievable.
But I felt very clearly how it was time
for a wild change
for myself and for the world
And I jumped!
I had been a jury member for the final projects of the EANG Herbalist Training since 2007, but in 2009 I also became a lecturer in the courses for Herbalist and Nutrition Consultant at the EANG. For more than 12 years I taught Natural Philosophy and Advises in Natural Medicine.
About how everything is connected,
how food can be your medicine,
and how we have our own ecosystem,
and how we in turn are part
of a larger whole.
2012 Because there were no year-long
training courses in wild foraging yet,
I just invented it.
#foreverpioneer #exciting
That may sound very brave, but I was seriously doubting whether anyone would be interested in it. However, I was blown away by the overwhelming success. I was allowed to work in so many extraordinary places, from inspiring food forests to former ranger cabins by the sea.
Hundreds of people signed up, and a solid waiting list started to grow.
In 2018, I found the working environment of my dreams, on an idyllic little island in Drongen (Ghent) surrounded by an old arm of the river Leie. I came home to its lush world of plants and immersed myself even more in my work.
Do you feel at home
in the landscape that surrounds you?
It’s an experience that I wish
everyone could have
2020. All my lessons were cancelled. And I had a waiting list of more than 1600 people for my course in wild foraging — a list that kept on growing. And suddenly I realised that I would never be able to catch up with that list since I only had room for 50 to 60 students every year. I needed to do something, because it was time to increase the positive impact of wild plants on the world.
A year-long online course in wild foraging
for people who don’t like to sit behind their screens,
but who want to go out
and discover plants,
would that be possible?
The answer turned out to be a loud yes!
The year-long online course in wild foraging took place for the first time in 2022.
2020-2022: Thanks to the power of a wholesome plant-based diet AND wild herbs, I managed to put my auto immune disease into remission.
Because I always tend to sink my teeth into things, I completely immersed myself in this. After voraciously reading a large amount of books about the subject, I obtained a.o. a degree in Plant-Based Nutrition at eCornell University.
And hey, when you eat plant-based food,
you are able to answer the question
‘but what on earth
can you still eat then?’
very creatively as a wild forager:
steamed shoots of common hogweed, thistle juice, risotto of stinging nettle … After 30 years of not eating animals I discovered that all further cliché questions end here :)
In 2022 I decided to challenge my imposter syndrome and finally publish the manuscript that had been lying in my drawer for 10 years, and that everyone kept asking me about.
Quite funny really that that was such an unnerving adventure to me, since I already had a lot of experience in writing articles for international specialist journals, and as a co-author of herbals in English and Dutch.
But my very own book … that turned out to be a really big step for me, giving me quite a few minor panic attacks. Fortunately there were so many sympathetic supporters on the sidelines that I kept going.
‘In Het Wild Geplukt’ (Foraged in the Wild)
was born, the book for nature lovers like you,
who want to start working
with edible wild plants
in an accessible and transparant way
But you know what? It’s not about me.
It’s about the plants. And about you.
I have been so fortunate to inspire thousands of people to give plants a more prominent place in their lives. In such a way that puts sustainability and safety first.
Are you next?
Start working on your plant blindness
Wild herb wisdom
is an essential skill,
today and in the future
