I know I’ve been very quiet over the Juul period and haven’t written for a while. That’s mainly been down to two things: being away and being in darkness.
I was away in November in Namibia, working with the Heritage Village Foundation and the Ju’|hoansi people of the Kalahari. Some of you may know that I spent my childhood in east and southern Africa, as my grandfather did before me. Returning there is always a kind of homecoming—a renewal of something old that stirs in my bones. Supporting the Ju’|hoansi, who are still fighting to keep alive the ancestral ways of the hunter-gatherer, humbles me every time.
Being away
The experience is as vast as the desert plains themselves. It touches the deepest, quietest parts of me. And it resists being squeezed into neat paragraphs for social media—although I try, because their survival matters, and because fundraising matters. Taking action now is, for me, a small way to counterbalance the continued colonisation of food, minerals, and everything else funnelled to the Global North from lands once inhabited by indigenous people. These communities are often left displaced, disempowered, and economically stranded.
We may feel the squeeze here in Britain, but compared to the scarcity others live with, we remain astonishingly wealthy—and obliged, I think, to act accordingly.
Being in darkness
The weeks leading up to Juul—the winter solstice—always press in on me. The plants withdraw their life force underground, animals are sleeping, birds have flown south. Persephone descends, the Cailleach rides the dark winds, and the world enters that strange liminal hush.
At that time of year, I often feel the collective psyche dim and heavy. For me, this is a season for withdrawing and reflecting. A time to ask myself how to stay in right relationship with the world as I find it. How to continue to hope in the face of what sometimes feels like a rolling tide of global grief. How to prepare for looming social and ecological upheavals without tumbling into the bunker mentality of prepping. Or should I ignore it all and try to float serenely above it?
It’s a delicate balance—to stay true to myself and to wider humanity when extremism and algorithm-driven division flare up everywhere. But slowly, as ever, I come through the solstice and back into the widening light. These past mornings the horizon has been lit early with glowing orange and magenta—a reminder that the wheel continues to turn.
What pulls me forward: community
And in all this contemplating, one word keeps presenting itself: community.
Community.
Because so much in our current political and technological climate seems engineered to fracture us – to pit neighbour against neighbour, to silence nuance, to erode empathy. We are becoming strangers to each other. And when we are strangers, we lose the ability to act with humanity.
So, as the new year begins, I’ve been thinking about the courses I want to teach—not only because this is my livelihood, but because they are one of the ways I can actively weave community back together.
I don’t want my courses to be simply “come and learn” events, with a classroom-style structure and people ticking off outcomes. I want them to be gatherings. A coming-together of curious souls in a time when the world seems intent on pulling us apart.
We will learn, yes. Our hands will be busy: foraging, making, fermenting, crafting, cooking, tending, however we need to cover the main theme of each course. We’ll share essential skills: ancestral skills, practical skills, the skills our grandchildren may quietly thank us for one day. But we’ll also talk. We’ll listen. We’ll share food and firelight. We’ll strengthen our capacity to meet an uncertain future not with fear, but with capability, camaraderie, and a grounded sense of belonging.
I truly believe this is the work now:
To rebuild community. To teach community. To remember that we are nature, not something separate from it. To restore the indigenous, earth-woven parts of ourselves that colonial modernity tried so hard to silence.
Because lasting social change has always risen from the grassroots – from people gathering, learning, creating, resisting, reimagining. From people who dare to live with hope even when the world wobbles.
A call to gather
So, this year, I’m hosting courses not only to pass on knowledge but to create a place of meeting – a hearth for those who want to explore food, plants, land connection, resilience, and the joy of being human together.
If you feel the pull of that – if you’re craving connection, or yearning for the skills that make us more rooted and less afraid – have a look at the courses on my website’s home page. Each one has its own theme, because structure helps us navigate, but the real heart of them is people coming together.
This is my invitation for 2026:
Let’s gather. Let’s learn. Let’s build the kind of community the future will need.
Mo
Retreats & Workshops
Otzi Craft Village: A Mesolithic Immersion
Step Into the World of Ancient Makers
Immerse yourself in the lost skills of our ancestors with forager and wild food expert Mo Wilde and stone age expert Werner Pfeifer for a unique hands-on weekend in Mo’s Meadow, where we’ll explore how people once lived as hunter gatherers – long before cities, screens, or shoes with laces.Welcome to Otzi Craft Village: a four-day immersion into simpler times inspired by prehistoric craftsmanship, where you’ll create authentic, functional leather goods using time-honoured methods, all while living simply under the sky , cooking around the fire, and reconnecting with nature. This is your invitation to slow down, reconnect, and rediscover the creativity and resilience of our earliest ancestors.
This is more than just a craft course, if you stay over in Mo’s meadow you will cook together, gain insight into a community, hear stories and connect with like-minded people.
Day 1 & 2: Tailored Leather Bag
Using vegetable-tanned leather and Werner’s precise pattern, each participant will make a beautifully rugged bag to their own measurements. Perfect for everyday use or bushcraft adventures, these are built for both style and strength.
Day 3: Rawhide Footwear
Craft your own durable, healthy footwear using thick cowhide. These flat-soled designs protect feet from rocks and thorns, can be worn barefoot or with socks, and even double as moccasin soles to preserve your soft leather footwear. You’ll learn two proven patterns and take home a pair built for the wild.
Day 4: Leather Clothing
Hand-stitch your own leather garment of your choice, you’ll choose your style, and Werner will share tips and ancient tailoring tricks for fit, finish, and comfort. Custom to you and made to last for many years to come.
Children are welcome to come along free of charge if they are under 12 (but must be supervised by a parent) or £35 per day (aged 12-17) if they would like to join the crafting. You can attend one or multiple workshops with the option to camp in Mo’s meadow. Please get in touch to discuss specifications.
***Vegan options available
Location: West Lothian, Scotland
Date: Easter Weekend 3rd – 6th April 2026
Cost: Please pay a £70 deposit to secure your place. The course is £70 per day (plus leather skins).
Please contact hello@monicawilde.com to inform us which courses you would like to attend and whether or not you would like to camp in Mo’s meadow for exact pricing.
Solstice Wilderness Quest 2026 on SALE!
EARLY BIRD TICKETS NOW ON SALE!
A Rite of Passage in the Wild Fells of the Lake District
Slow down. Unplug. Remember.
As the sun turns on its ancient path and the year reaches its still point, you’re invited to step away from the noise of the world and into something older, quieter, and deeply alive.
Join a small gathering of fellow seekers for a 5-day wilderness quest designed as a sacred rite of passage. In the embrace of the Lake District’s wild and storied landscape, you’ll prepare, cross a threshold, and return changed.
What is a Wilderness Quest?
It is not an escape, it’s a return.
A return to soul.
To nature.
To the elemental rhythm that pulses beneath the surface of everyday life.
Rooted in ancient tradition and mythic structure, the Solstice Quest is a ceremonial journey cantered around a solo fast in a remote, wild place – supported by intentional group preparation, deep council, and integration. Together, we’ll create a container of safety and depth where transformation can occur.
Is This for You?
Are you standing at a crossroads?
Is something within you ready to shift or shed?
Do you hear the call for something more meaningful, more real?
If so, this quest may be for you.
Throughout time, humans have entered the wilderness not only to survive, but to remember who they truly are. In solitude and silence, with the land as mirror and guide, answers arise that no book or teacher can give. Nature speaks in symbol and archetype, offering visions and clarity for those willing to truly listen.
During the Quest you’ll be guided through a deeply held ceremonial arc. There will be time for storytelling, intention-setting, and gathering in council to build trust and ground ourselves in the sacred container of the experience. From there, you’ll begin your solo time on the land: A 5 day quest that includes one day of fasting in a carefully chosen wild place, where the natural world becomes both mirror and guide. This is your threshold crossing – a personal rite of passage held in sacred space, away from the distractions of the modern world. Finally, we return together for integration: a time of witnessing, sharing, and re-entry into the human community, carrying the insights and transformations the land has offered.
This is not a workshop. It is not a retreat.
It is a ceremony of becoming.
The Solstice marks the turning of the light. It is a time of thresholds, transitions, and possibilities. Will you answer the call?
Space is limited – to maintain the depth and integrity of the ceremony, this quest is limited to a small group of participants.
Location: Cumbria
Dates: Wednesday 17 June to Sunday 21 June 2026 inclusive
The Summer Session: Forage, Feast, and Explore in Norway
Join wild living pioneer and primitive skills visionary Lynx Vilden and forager, herbalist and wild food expert Monica ‘Mo’ Wilde for a truly transformative week immersed in the rhythms of nature.
Set in the serene wilds of Rena, Norway, Lynx and Mo bring a powerful blend of ancestral wisdom, scientific insight, and soul-deep connection to the land. Join them in summer 2026 for an unforgettable journey into wild living, plant knowledge, and the skills that awaken something ancient within us all.
For 6½ immersive days, explore ancestral skills, wild wisdom, and earth connection through hands-on practice, deep listening, and community.
Date: 18 to 24 July 2026
Tickets & Pricing: £700 for the full week
Pay a £350 deposit to reserve your place
***Early Bird Discount!
Pay your deposit before 1st April 2026 to get £50 off your ticket
Foraging Courses
Our new Fungi Foraging courses are now on sale! Join Matthew Rooney as he delves into the delights of fungi foraging in West Lothian, Perth and Inverness. As we only bring 12 people with us on each course, be sure to book sooner rather than later.
Learn to forage with wild fungi expert, Matthew Rooney. Find out how to identify common fungi and tell them apart from their poisonous cousins! Discover their use as wild foods, medicinal mushrooms and sample their unusual tastes. How does the moon and weather influence them? This is a 3 to 3 1/2 hour foraging walk with a further 1/2 to 1 hour labelling specimen and examining the identification table at the end. Small group with expert tuition. Covers identification, harvesting, preserving, cooking, health benefits and folklore.
Free Food: Wild Plants & How to Eat Them
My new book is out now!
Whether you live in a city or in the countryside, a world of amazing, diverse wild food is at your doorstep. Not only is wild food free and sustainable; it is also jam-packed with nutrients and flavour beyond anything you will find in a supermarket.
In Free Food,award-winning author and forager Mo Wilde explains how to identify the plants, seaweeds, nuts and spices that are safe (and delicious) to eat, including foraging staples like wild garlic and lesser-known herbs like the fragrant sweet cicely. Organised into plant families, it gives you the tools to develop a deeper understanding of a plant’s visual cues and their place in the ecosystem.
Once you have identified the plants, Wilde also describes ways you can eat them, whether that’s making jams from wild berries or gluten-free flour from roots and nuts. The possibilities go on. You can deep-fry hogweed tempura; top your dishes with cow parsley; create a wild pantry of herbal infusions, spices and fermented drinks, and even tap beech trees for their sap.
Gorgeously illustrated, Free Food will awaken your sense of wonder. Whatever your lifestyle – whether you are an enthusiastic forager or simply curious about wild food – this book will inspire you to get outside and re-connect with nature.
The Wildbiome™️ Project
The Wildbiome Project 1 in 2023 involved members of the Association of Foragers participating in a citizen science research study. They ate only wild food for either 3 months or 1 month. They were monitored for changes in body composition, blood tests for health markers. Their gut microbiome was also tested against a reference control of people eating normal shop-bought food. What we want to know is what would happen to our bodies if we had to go back to eating only wild food?
The Wildbiome Project 2 runs from 1st April to 30 June 2025. Keep up to date with it all by signing up to my newsletter and following me on Instagram or Facebook and if you can, please donate to the Wildbiome™️ Project so we can fund the continuing research.
The Wilderness Cure is out in paperback!
I am thrilled that The Wilderness Cure is now out in paperback and is available from all good bookshops! To learn more about it, click here.
Support for African Hunter-Gatherers
During my stay with the Ju|’hoansi in the Kalahari Desert, they introduced me to the craft of creating jewellery from ostrich shell. They collect the broken shells after the ostrich chicks have hatched, utilising a resource that the ostrich no longer needs. The women then chip the shells into shape, make a hole in the middle to thread them, grind them on a flat stone to smooth them off and roast them on the fire to create different colours. The women asked me to sell some of their unique pieces on their behalf so you’ll find a selection of their beautiful necklaces and bracelets on my shop page. All proceeds from the sales go directly to the makers – less postage costs, currency exchange and PayPal fees.
Another of the Ju|’hoan tribe, Daqm Kxunta looks after the village garden. This is a harsh climate, the rain is slight and the temperatures are rising, so the yields of bush foods have not been great this year. Daqm is trying to grow food crops but, as they are in such a remote location, it is hard to get hold of seeds. Consider sending the gift of a packet of fruit or vegetable seeds to:
Daqm Kxunta
Djamta!’ae Village
P.O. Box 2
Tsumkwe
NAMIBIA
They will be highly appreciated! Daqm and his wife |Xoan have one child – a little girl, aged 3 in December, who has cerebral palsy. We are also looking for a sponsor. If this is you, please get in touch.