About WildStories

Don’t we all have a story of blowing dandelion’s seeds, play the leaves of budgie grass, suck the stems of wood sorrel?

Why we do this? Were did we learn? How is it that some practice become ‘common knowledge’? Where is this knowledge from?

Following the many years of experience presenting tours of the weeds of Sydney, naturalist Diego Bonetto present a series of workshops teaching the wonders of wildcrafting, harvesting edible weeds!

To some plantain, dandelion, chickweed and sowthistle are a nuisance, to others they are a delicious salad a a seasonal treat!

Learn about the most common species growing in your garden, along the green belts and in urban parks and reserves. Find out what you can do and the history of medicinal properties. Discover ways to safely harvest from the (urban) wild and enrich your diet with vitamins and minerals.

Join Diego as he scouts surrounding fields, nature reserves and river’s shores while meeting locals from all over the world, to collect and record the wild stories we all carry.

As part of the project Wild Stories will propose workshops, skill sharing activities, cooking classes, story-telling events for young and old, green thumbs and not, as we all have a wild story to tell.

The project will culminate in a major exhibition in 2012/2013 when the collected material, stories, interviews, photographs and long lost connections will be exhibited at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.

“I just watched a video of you cooking biscuits with fennel. My mother loved making spinach and feta pies with fennel that we would pick from the side of train tracks. For some reason, the train track fennel always tasted better than the garden grown fennel. I wonder what other weeds you can use in cooking. Are you going to write a little cook book one day?”
Electra, accountant, 2008

“ ohh, indeed I spent so many hours looking for four leaved clovers in my youth.. and I still do at times”
Jo, educator, 2011

“my family when I was in the farm, as a young man, we were foraging,  […] there is a rural culture in Australia, that done that, even go collecting blackberries..”
John, government advisor, 2010