East Lothian drinks company giving out vouchers in return for foraged goods

‘You can pick berries in return for some booze.’
Rosehip, and Tom and Rupert foraging in East LothianRosehip, and Tom and Rupert foraging in East Lothian
Rosehip, and Tom and Rupert foraging in East Lothian

The owners of a business launched to make beverages out of wild Scottish plants are offering vouchers for their drinks in return for foraged ingredients.

Rupert Waites and Tom Chisolm, the founders of Buck and Birch in Macmerry, East Lothian, have called on residents to get outdoors with family and friends and start foraging.

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The particular ingredient they need at the moment is rosehip, and crab apples are also welcome.

Fruitful pickers will then receive a £5 voucher per kilo of foraged goods to spend on Buck and Birch products, rosehip syrup for children an enamel ‘Wilderness

Adventurer’ badge for anyone taking part.

"We wanted to get something going that connects folk not only to the environment surrounding them, but people of all age groups,” Rupert said.

"Encouraging people to head out and forage for these ingredients will also hopefully remind them of how much Scotland has to offer.

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"Rosehips are a good place to start because they are in abundance and there’s plenty of them to pick right now.”

Any excess rosehip syrup will be donated to care homes across the region as part of Bark and Birch's ‘Restoring Vital Connections’ campaign.

With its abundance of vitamin C, Rupert said it makes a delicious and healthy treat for the elderly.

"When I was growing up my mum used rosehip and I know it’s very much part of the older generation’s childhood.

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"It has between 20 and 50 times more vitamin C than an orange and was used a lot during the war when people were worried about scurvy as food was rationed.

"So that generation have quite an affinity with it and it would be nice making it for them – much nicer than making hand sanitiser.”

The drinks enthusiast said interest in the foraging activity has already picked up a pace.

"A 78-year-old woman came all the way from Haddington on the bus with her foraged goods,” he said.

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"The aim through this is also to get people out. With Covid-19 going on it’s important to get outside, into nature and keeping active and providing something for children to do.

"Some people are seeing it as a challenge, to see how many they can pick, and of course some people are loving that you can pick berries in return for some booze.”

Anne Paxton, 70, who has foraged in the East Lothian area since her childhood, said: “Some of my earliest memories are of my granny when she went foraging.

"We’d walk along the Tyne on a Sunday from East Linton to Hailes, collecting as we went. When I was a kid we also used to go bramble picking all of the time and my mum used to make elderberry and bramble wine.

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“We would get extra pocket money at school from the headmaster for collecting rosehips. I still love foraging – it’s a great way to get out and about.”

Rupert added: “Foraging is great for mind and body. It’s completely free and available to anyone willing to put the time in. What better way to get exercise, fresh air and a greater understanding of the incredible and even exotic world right on our doorstep. You usually end up with dinner too. What’s not to love?”

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