Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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Green Man
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Foraging?Could you enlighten me what the definition of "foraging" is? I would particularly like to know when it crosses the boundary and becomes to what many of us would call stealing or poaching.
I'm not grinding any axes, I'm just interested.
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Treacodactyl
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Thats a complicated answer (one which I don't know myself) and I wouldn't mind a simple summary. Legally I think fruits and fungi are not owned so anyone can pick them although I'm not sure if it applies to fruit you've planted yourself. I'm not sure about the legal issues with leaves, roots, bulbs etc. Either way, you also need permission to be on the land.
If we get some useful replies I'll move the thread to the foraging section. 
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Green Man
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wellington womble
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I supose it depends who owns the land you're foraging on. I wonder if fruit on public paths and bridleways, roadside verges etc etc actually does belong to anyone?
Last time I met the man who owns the woods when I was out blackberrying, he commented on how nice it was to the fruit being used (I was on a bridleway at the time)
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gil
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Round here, all the farmers, landowners and estate managers I know are more than happy for folk to pick what wild fruits they're not going to use themselves, as they view it as not wasting resources that otherwise would be. Indeed, some actively encourage (me) to pick/forage on their land. Issues of sustainability don't really arise, as most trees tend to be too tall to pick anything but fruit off the lowest branches, and bramble thickets etc are extensive and largely impenetrable, so only the outside can be picked from. It seems to have been customary to allow picking / foraging by locals, but not that many do it now. Guess they might not be so happy if outsiders came in equipped with ladders etc and totally stripped trees and bushes.
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Bodger
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A practical subject, with a practical application and practical answers .  At long last t
Thinking back to my policeman days ( I was pensioned off in 1988) I'm trying to think back to what I was taught with regards to theft.
I can't remember any of he definitions but it roughly went like this.
Forget poaching because obviously if you're fishing for it or hunting it without the owners permission then you,re committing the offence
When it comes to foraging for things from the wild then its not a criminal offence to pick things like mushrooms,wild herbs and berries unless the owner can prove that instead of being purely wild, some degree of cultivation has taken place.
Be aware that whilst you can't be done for theft in this sort of instance land owners may still be able to use civil tresspass laws ( I'm not so sure about this one with right to roam development) and the offence of criminal damage.
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hedgewitch
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Is foraging covered in any way by the laws of land held in common?
When I think about it, I mostly forage on land that is free access and I have no idea who actually owns it. There's a lovely crop of ripening elderberries I've got my eye on that areon someone's land, but I know the landowner and am going to ask permission
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cab
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If you've got a right to be there (e.g. its a public right of way or common land, etc.) and you can reach the wild plant or fungus, you can take a part of it. If its cultivated, then really you can't. Fruit trees overhanging public rights of way and dripping fruit are clearly fair game morally, but legally its iffy.
You can't take whole plants or wild roots, but you can take parts thereof. Note that mushrooms are merely the fruiting bodies of larger organisms living in the ground or in a dead log or similar, so they're fair game.
If the landowner requests that you stop, then don't worry about the legality, just stop. Its easier and less aggravating.
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