Foraged Ethics
Encouraging sustainability and proper conduct for all members.
Our principles
Without foragers, food producers, farmers, home chefs, or food enthusiasts- we don’t exist. So whether you’re joining us as a new forager who just watched their first video, a seasoned expert, a specialty wild food business owner, or anything in between; it’s not only important, but crucial to know that at Foraged we adhere to the following principles:
SUPPORTING ECOSYSTEMS
First and foremost, foraging and harvesting wild foods are important activies that promote and support all plants, animals, and habitats in which they exist. We recognize that every ecosystem is interconnected and we seek to continually learn these linkages and better understand how to support them.
A SUPPORTIVE, INCLUSIVE PLATFORM
We aim to promote everything we do on this platform (foraging, buying, selling, farming,etc.) as inclusive activities in opposition to discrimination and prejudice across age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender and foraging/farming experience. There is zero tolerance for those who violate this standard.
ALWAYS EVOLVING AND LEARNING
We understand that all foods and farms have their own unique connection to their environment and their unique methodology for cultivating, growing, and harvesting. We know that to do these things successfully, we require continual knowledge and evolution in order to ensure prosperity for not just everyone on our platform, but the environment itself.
STANDING BY SAFETY
Safety is an absolute must. Everyone on this platform must operate within the boundaries of legislation enacted by local, state and federal governments along with foraging governing bodies and that all farms adhere to relevant labor, business, environmental and food codes to ensure equitable working conditions and provide a safe product for consumers. This extends to practices for gathering and consuming. All must seek proper permission for any activity.
ALWAYS SUSTAINABLE
Sustainability and foraging go hand and hand – there are no exceptions. We require that foragers are considerate of ecological implications of foraging and will work proactively to practice techniques that allow future foragers equal opportunity to participate, and not cause permanent damage to their area of operation. We encourage foragers to only take 25% of finds, continually look for new spots, and not over harvest at one or multiple locations to preserve the impact had on mycelial networks and surrounding areas.
PROTECTING ECOSYSTEMS
While we are respectful of the wisdom and knowledge of our growers and farmers, we want to actively encourage growing and harvesting practices that are sustainable, ecologically friendly, and provide opportunity for continual year-to-year growth.
CLONING & CULTIVATING
We encourage everyone to go even further in practicing sustainability by gathering spores from their favorite wild mushrooms and cloning them, if possible. Same with plants – we encourage cultivation over wild harvesting at all times. Cloning spores and planting seeds provides a method to not rely solely on Mother Nature to yield results. In fact, many highly regarded strains of cultivated mushrooms originated from wild species.
