It is summer holidays over here and could there really be anything better than heading for the hills, ignoring the commercial pull of the season, and settling into learning about the great outdoors. We went on an adventure to visit our coastal friend and forager, Roushanna Gray, the founder of Veld and Sea.
We went because for the longest time we wanted to show our readers how to make cheese, but we wanted to add a local twist… and show you that you can pop local flowers into your cheese. We went to learn more about fynbos and what flavours work best together.
Look out for our easy ricotta cheese recipe in our very next blog post…
Let’s Meet Our Coastal Forager
My name is Roushanna Gray, Founder of Veld and Sea. I am a wild food innovator and avid forager. I teach adults and children about indigenous edible foods and cater for pop-up events. I am inspired by the local edible indigenous plant availability, and have been experimenting with the exciting flavours and diversity of Fynbos and Indigenous plants for the past nine years. The wide range of delicious and nutritious culinary offerings from the beautiful inter-tidal rock pools along our coastline also play a major role in my cooking and classes.
Three Green Living Questions
While we were there, and before we headed out into the veld, we asked her our three green living questions…
- What one thing do you do in your home that you feel makes a difference to the environment?
- If you could tell your community one thing to change what would it be?
- If you had an opportunity to speak to world leaders what policy would you ask them to implement?
- It’s Earth Day and We Have Three Questions for You…
- Three Green Living Questions that We Asked a Citizen Scientist…
- Three Green Living Questions that we asked the Founder of the Beach Co-Op…
- Three Green Living Questions that We Asked an Environmentalist…
- Three Green Living Questions that We Asked a Marine Biologist…
- Three Green Living Questions That We Asked an Environmental Engineer…
- Three Green Living Questions We Asked a Ranger…
- Three Green Living Questions We Asked an Ocean Educator…
- Se7en Meets Up With Sealand, and Three More Green Living Questions…
Only one! That’s hard. I guess it would have to be our grey water systems with the current drought in the Western Cape.
Change can start at home in the kitchen, all you have to do is change your mindset and your shopping habits. Think twice before buying plastic wrapped produce, try and source locally produced and grown ingredients – think about where your food comes from (Is it really in season? Did it get here on an airplane? Was it sprayed with pesticides?) recycle any packaging and compost your kitchen scraps.
To include indigenous plant knowledge and food gardens into school curriculums.
A Tour of the Veld and Sea Gardens
We went on a short walkabout, through the wild flower gardens and the veld…
A walk through the veld, a mini forage, new flavours to try…
And fields of edible wild flowers…
From gooseberries…
To pansies…
We gathered the prettiest feast…
The Workshop
Then back to the workshop to linger and learn a little longer…
What an amazing place to explore…
Full of things to look at…
At every turn some new inspiration…
Petals, dried and stored…
Exciting times…
And all our discoveries sorted into flavours…
And ready to go home and make beautiful cheese…
Take a Look at their Airbnb
If you are looking for a dream holiday along the coast of the South Peninsula, in a place where you won’t be overwhelmed by crowds… but rather the exact opposite. The perfect spot to go surfing or hiking, a place where nature is all around you and the perfect place to find some peace, read a great book and write in your nature journal. It is rustic and welcoming and the perfect retreat.
And There is Always Time to Play
For a Gallery of Pictures from our Visit
Previous Posts in Our Three Green Living Questions Series
Huge thank you to Roushanna Grey, of Veld and Sea. You can find her on Instagram over here, and information on her upcoming events and workshops over here.