Strange reactions from passers by?

[cab]

Am I the only person who sometimes gets bizarre reactions from other folk when foraging? 

Had one lady pull up next to me in her car while I was half way up a tree and berate me, quite loudly, for vandalism. Had to tell her that picking fruit isn't vandalism...

Another one (with two kids) walked up and asked what I was doing. Picking cherries, I said. How did I know they're cherries, she asked? Well, they're on this here cherry tree. How do I know its a cherry tree? Well, its covered in these cherries, look... She turned to her kids and loudly told them that one woman she knows, her kids ate cherries from a tree, ended up in a coma!

Then there was the concerned dog walking woman who ran over to me to warn me that some mushrooms are poisonous, do I know what I'm doing?

Now it can't just be me who gets these... Is it?

[foragingmouse]

This could be a good post ....

I get reactions that swing from interest to utter diss belief I've even got a group of older lady's that purposely follow me just to see what I'm collecting several people have told me they are doing it and talking about me but never yet have they approached me , I find it quite amusing

Luckily I've never had a bad experience but I think being a slightly overweight Neanderthal looking creature helps

[Marc]

Also get some funny looks when out and about a man out and about with a camera sneaking around hedges and verges, I suppose can look a bit suspicious. Have never had any hassle just the odd enquiry as to what I'm doing.

[edenwildfood]

Now I teach foraging courses I normally just say that. And people leave me alone, but I often get more positive interactions with people asking what I'm picking and I engage them and tell them a bit about it, seems often to be when im coastal foraging too.

I did once have a woman walk past me whilst I was picking blackberries who had two kids with her say "why don't you just buy them from a shop like a normal person", and that was in a semi rural village.

[emmac]

I gave my friend's kid some blackberries. His dad told him not to eat them cos they're "dirty"...

I like being the crazy loon in the village

[cab]

Always strikes me as peculiar that 'normal' is seen as somehow 'moral'. 'Normal' people buy things from the shop so they're 'good', whereas foragers do something that isn't 'normal' so they're not good, what we do is somehow feared by some.

Personally I usually see 'normal' as synonymous with 'dull', so what do I know about anything anyway

[Brewforagegrow]

I saw a post somewhere a while ago along the lines of "why is there a specific term for an outdoorsy person but not for those who aren't when being outdoors is actually more natural.

I think it's the same with foraging. In older times the knowledge of what to pick, where to pick it etc would have been passed down through the generations. Now we're taught not to pick things.

People only talk to me when I wear what I call my hat of trust. Without it on I'm just a tattooed guy with multiple piercings lurking in the bushes. People who talk to me have all been quite positive and interested in what I'm doing though.

[edenwildfood]

I usually have a wicker basket and a hooked foraging stick, so i guess i look like i know what im doing, and i dont think i look too scary so usually i just try to engage people.

[foragingmouse]

And your a pretty boy mat , I'm a tattooed guy with a beard so the scary factor sets in for me , saying that a basket and a crook stick seems to put all worries to bed and I'm often approached generally with a healthy interest

[Brewforagegrow]

Are beards scary? Dammit, got one of those too ☺
It's getting pretty damn long as well if I do say so myself!

[Brewforagegrow]

Aug 20, 2014 21:18:35 GMT foragingmouse said:

And your a pretty boy mat

I wouldn't say pretty....

Prettier than us maybe, but he no emmac

[edenwildfood]

If you've got your kid in a papoose it's probably less scary, unless they think you're foraging for children

[emmac]

hahaha, I love this thread!

I think perhaps if I grow a beard it might make things more interesting...

[herbwise]

Here in the US people have a mixed bag of reactions... Depending on where you are located in the USA they might stop and ask and be interested (on the east or west coast), or glaze over when you are in the middle of your explanation and walk away mumbling (midwest). As a female I have to say the most common reaction is to get honked at if I'm foraging say, crab apples near a road...

In backwoods Appalachia foraging is a way for life for many folk. People are wildly secretive (and sometimes downright protective right down to bear traps, etc.) about their picking spots as usually it is a lucrative source of income for them as well.

On the west coast folks are really getting into urban gardening/foraging and guerrilla gardening and planting edible landscaping, in particular the Pacific Northwest where being "weird" is just normal and happily embraced so you're not even likely to have someone look at you twice there if you are digging around in the dirt or picking through a random tree. More people with beards, tattoos and hiking boots than high heels and spotless sneakers out there.

[eatlikekings]

To be perfectly honest, I don't get strange looks because I generally don't like people to know that I am foraging, especially for the stuff I rate the most like mushrooms and crabs. The exception is razor clams, because it's difficult to explain why you're walking backwards along the tide line, peering down at your feet and occasionally stopping to squirt salty water into a hole in the beach from which a long hard shell pops up like a, well, you know what I mean. People who stop to watch are always fascinated but no-one has ever been rude or unpleasant. Perhaps they feel sorry for me!