CELT were delighted to play a part in Celebrating National Tree 2025 week at the Slieve Aughty Center, with a Tree Foraging walk with our expert foraging Tutor, Olwyn willaims, who guided a full workshop and an eager group of Tree Forager enthusiasts on the abundance and benefits of Tree foraging!
National Tree Week Ireland’s largest annual tree celebration, is proudly organised each year by the Tree Council of Ireland, and invites communities across the nation to come together to appreciate the beauty and crucial importance and role of Ireland’s trees in all our lives.
Our event aimed to explore the multiple benefits and abundance of nature’s Tree edible harvests and what we can forage from trees at different times of the year, with a special focus in this workshop on winter tree identification, as most trees were not in leaf yet.
A fruit harvest is an obvious one, but did you know that the bark, seeds and leaves or needles of many trees are also edible, medicinal or can be used in crafts? This walk and talk with forager and wild food specialist Olwyn Williams introduced our participants to a variety of edible and medicinal tree crops, alongside some key harvesting techniques, and ways to use them as food or simple herbal remedies.
The event took place in the beautiful woodland surrounds of the Slieve Aughty Center, enabling the group to meet a variety of trees in situ, discuss identification traits and growing habits, and which parts of which trees are safe to consume, and which are potentially dangerous, highlighting what times of the year and stages of growth are the best for harvesting, and how to harvest them. Our participants learnt what is suitable for personal or household use as opposed to commercial scale.
The event wrapped up with a tasting session of samples of a selection of foraged tree crop food products - some of which were birch sap, lacto fermented rowan berries, green elderberry capers and spruce chocolate.
We are grateful to ongoing support for our events and funding from the Irish Environmental Network through the Department of the Environment,Climate and Communications
Tutor Bio: Olwyn is a forager and yoga teacher based in East Co. Galway. Her work explores the relations between humans and plants and is informed by the need to reclaim food sovereignty, connect with local landscapes, and meet our basic needs in ways beneficial to both people and planet.
National Tree Week took place from March Sunday 9th to Sunday 16th. This is an annual event organised by the Tree Council of Ireland in partnership with Coillte. It is the largest tree celebration in the country, providing a unique opportunity for people to come together and celebrate the beauty and importance of Ireland's trees!
For more information on National Tree Week please visit
Comments