Hello!

 For those of you who don't know me, my name is Mina Said and I'm doing a PhD at Leeds uni. I have been running these "food for free" walks for over 3 years now, have taught in excess of 250 people how to identify and prepare edible plants and funghi and will shortly be featured on a BBC gardening programme with Alys Fowler doing my foraging thing. :)  I run a number of Wild Food Walks and other events throughout the year to raise money for the "Nuru shelter and Education Centre", a charity that my aunt, sister and I run in Kenya. (more details on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34548307757&ref=mf .)All the money raised on these walks goes to fund the charity work we do in Kenya. It will either be used to pay the teacher's salaries, rent on the school house, food for the children or other running costs.

For those of you who have come on these walks before, there are a few changes this year. The walks now cost £15 per person, with a £3 discount for students on showing a valid NUS card (so £12 per person). I am also offerring a new deal where, if you buy blocks of three walks, you get a voucher for a fourth walk for free which you can either use yourself, or pass on to someone else so that they can give it a go too!* I decided to do this after seeing quite a lot of faces reappearing at the walks in different seasons. As these people realised, the kinds of plants available at different times of the year can vary hugely, and everytime they come, they learn something new. This gives you the perfect opportunity to come along to walks in all seasons, and truly learn what the green spaces of Leeds have to offer.

We will be leaving from Leeds university campus at 10am on Saturday 17th April from the Parkinson steps and ending up on campus again 3 hours later at 1pm. Walks of this type and length normally cost in excess of £40 per person but I do mine for just £15 (£12 for students) so that more people can afford them and join in the fun!

Anyone who wishes to come on these walks must email me in advance to book a place. Demand is quite high for them and I try to limit the numbers so that everyone gets as much out of the time as possible. If there are enough people interested, I tend to add an extra time slot and do one walk from 10am to 1pm and one walk from 2pm to 5pm.

I also do wild food walks on demand for groups and for these, I can come to your local area and show you what you can eat on your own doorstep. These walks make lovely presents and cost the same as my usual walks. (subject to minimum attendance). I also teach courses on preserving and show people how to make fruit leathers, jams, syrups, cordials, fruit cheeses, fruit vinegars and other preserves and will soon be featured doing this on a BBC2 gardening programme. The proceeds from these courses also go to support the work we do in Kenya.

Please feel free to email me at minamoo @ gmail.com if you require any more information about the walks and should you wish to attend, please remember to let me know.

Regards,

Mina