16/10/2026
DID YOU MISS ME?? After taking some time away to get life sorted I'm pleased to announce Free Food Foragers is BACK bigger and better than ever!
I wanted to share some personal developments with you our fellow foragers.
I have recently been diagnosed with ADHD.
Yes many of you who have met me and my high energy enthusiastic love of edible w**ds are sitting there going "well that explains a lot!" 🤣
It also explains a lot of my behaviours that up until 39 years of age, I had just presumed there was something wrong with me and had worked so hard to mask myself and not let other people down.
This cycle of high energy and engagement followed by devastating periods of burnout and absolute mental paralysis and extreme anxiety now make sense.
This is why I would be posting content daily for months, and then be totally silent and absent from the foragers page.
NOW I KNOW a lot of the self sabotage and perceived guilt has melted away.
I have always been INGRID. I AM weird, wonderful, extravagant, out of ordinary and one of a kind, just like many things in nature.
I am so proud of how far I have come on my jounery. From self taught forager, mother, wife, farmer, teacher and creator of magical moments.
This is my gift to share with the world. I bring light where there is darkness, I help people re-start their spark and ignite their flame. I bring lost knowledge back from the dark corners of forgotten history - teaching others about all the amazing medicinal and edible plants / fungi all around us growing wild and free, passing on that passion for nature.
I am not ashamed of being different, quite the opposite.
I have always proudly called myself a freak, but not in the negative way people perceive it.
But in the beautiful sense to me a freak of nature that is a mushroom growing out of another mushroom. A rare thing to behold.
I am the way mother nature made me and I have never felt more comfortable in my own skin and in who I am.
I won't apologise for my long ass rant.
I don't often share my personal life or what goes on behind the curtain.
BUT I am baring myself today in the hope it helps others feel proud, the way I feel proud.
I am not a label, a trend, a hash tag or some AI generated content.
I AM REAL, I AM ME, I AM INGRID and you amazing human beings reading this, you are too.
YOU ARE YOU.
Never apologise for being who you are; be strong, be proud and don't worry about what any one else thinks of you.
Being a forager isn't what society classifies as "normal" but that's our normal. It is how we are meant to live as human animals, finding and cooking our own food off the land.
I'm 100% done with conforming to what society thinks I should be. I am a forest loving fairy, weird witchy poo, mushroom mistress, mushie loving mumma, shield maiden and soul nourishment provider - both in food and frolicking fun.
Strap in folks to see a lot more of my other sides of life than just foraging. From now on I will not edit myself. Raw, unfiltered, no glossing over the failures and the gross or difficult parts, you are going to see it all on my journey and I hope it resonates with you as much as it does with me.
Thank you all for your support and love throughout my journey, let's take this next path together.
🤣 this is me with my 1st ever spinach garden solo project, when I was about 19 years old. This moment is me "birthing spinach" at 2am!
No F* given, no apologies ❤️
