Wildcrafting or wild-harvesting is pretty straightforward. It just means that ingredients or products have been sourced from the wild, from their natural environments. Wild-harvesting is an alternative to contemporary farming practices, and it is something that has been occurring for as long as humans have roamed the earth.
Up until about 11,000 years ago, when humans developed agriculture, foraging was one of two primary sources of food and the largest source of medicine!
Educated foragers or wildcrafters will be able to stroll through a typical forest, field, or woodland and find produce that you can use in medicine, food, or cosmetics. They can determine which plants are toxic, endangered, and which are safe for human use. These high-quality, natural ingredients can then be used in incredible products like Flora Fungi Fauna.
Most of the time yes. There are a range of reasons why you should opt for wild-harvested ingredients over organic when given a choice.
For one, ingredients sourced from their natural environments are substantially more resilient than those farmed and cultivated. In addition, survival of the fittest ensures that those plants that reach later growth stages are the most potent, most pure variants of their species.
This purity also means that wild-harvested ingredients and produce tend to have significantly more nutrients and active compounds. This benefit makes them even better for use in food, medicine, and cosmetics, as these are usually the components that we are after.
Wild-harvested ingredients are also better for the environment. Products that contain wild-harvested ingredients have a lower carbon footprint than other produce. However, both organically and non-organically sourced cultivated ingredients involve large areas of land being used up for farming.
As a result, farming often has a large carbon footprint. In addition, it often contributes to monocultures that damage ecosystems and can ruin the soil by upsetting the balance of nutrients and ions within it.
Organic ingredients are often favoured over other types of farm-grown produce due to the assumption that they will be chemical and toxin-free. However, this isn't always necessarily true. Many countries, including the US, allow organic farmers to use some "approved" chemicals on organic produce.
It could also apply to wild-harvested ingredients. If a plant is sourced near a highway or polluted area, it may have incidental toxins.
We’re proud to say that at Flora Fungi Fauna, we harvest exclusively from areas away from potential toxins. Our foragers understand the importance of safe and healthy ingredients.
At Flora Fungi Fauna, we prioritize honesty and nature, so we're going to shoot straight- there can be effects in delicate ecosystems from foraging.
However, our educated experts are committed to avoiding unbalancing ecosystems wherever possible. So instead, we treat nature the best we can and keep ourselves responsible as stewards of the ecosystems.
We know how important living in the care and love of nature is. At Flora Fungi Fauna, we have enormous love and care for our wild-harvesting areas in Norway and the Nordics. As a result, our products are expertly made with minimal environmental damage and maximum benefits to our customers.
