Lieve Galle, your foraging expert
I am Lieve, Wyldie and plant whisperer.
I grew up in Distelstraat (Thistle Street!) and was raised by cuckoo flowers, weeping willows, dandelions and wild apple.
I have been passionately translating plant stories to human ears for more than 20 years.
Finding my way in the world did not feel so easy. But one moment changed my life: I found a flyer that said ‘Become a herbalist,’. My heart was beating wildly and my untameable soul went wild.
In 2002 I graduated as a Herbalist (EANG) and Nature Guide (CVN-Natuurpunt).
I passionately founded Wild Plant Forager. A whole new world had opened up to me. Other people simply HAD to get to know that world too. I started teaching workshops and herbal walks.
Have you ever wondered what it is like to be able to know and trust the plants in your environment, just like our ancestors could?
I couldn't get enough of it and continued to delve into the power of plants. How wonderful it is to get to know their names, properties,chemical constituents and biotope!
Tea sommelier, hydrosol therapy, algotherapy, plant-based nutrition,... they all inspired me. One big plant adventure!
How many edible wild plants from your neighborhood can you list?
Or is it just one green spot for you?
And then artist’s collective Irma Firma showed up at my door. Wondering if I wanted to join them in the 'How To Survive In A City' project, where we let urban dwellers discover the wild food between the paving stones. In Brussels, Antwerp, Leuven, Kortrijk, Amsterdam,... it was a great success.
Commuters in suits kneeling down to pick daisies for soup, I’ll never forget the image!
In 2007 I was invited as a guest teacher at the Strawberry Moon Gathering in Lily Dale, USA, a gathering where traditional and indigenous knowledge is passed on from (grand)mother to (grand)daughter.
It was one of the experiences that turned my life upside down. When I returned, I resigned from the health food store where I worked, so that I could focus entirely on plants from now on.
Everyone thought I was crazy. To become a full time herbalist and forager? In Belgium? It was unheard of.
But I felt very clearly that it was time for a wild change. For myself and for the world. And I took the plunge!
After being a jury member for the Herbalist thesis students since 2007, I also became a teacher at the Herbalist program and Nutritionial Consultant program at the EANG in 2009. More than 12 years I taught the subjects of Natural Philosophy and Naturopathic Medicine.
About how everything is connected, how your food can be your medicine, and how we have our own ecosystem, and in turn become part of a bigger picture
2012 Because there wasn’t a full year course on foraging in Belgium yet, I simply invented it.
#pioneerforever #exciting
That sounds really cool now, but I really doubted whether anyone would be interested at all. But soon I was blown away by the resounding success. I had the opportunity to work in so many special places, from inspiring food forests to former ranger houses by the sea.
Hundreds of people registered, and a large waiting list grew.
In 2018 I found the workspace of my dreams, on an idyllic island in Drongen near Ghent, surrounded by an old river.
I came home among that wealth of plants and the place deepened my work even more.
Do you feel at home in the landscape around you? It is a deep sense of belonging that I wish everyone could have.
2020. All my classes were cancelled. And I had a waiting list of +1600 people for the wild picking annual training, a waiting list that kept growing and which I suddenly realized that I could never catch up, because there are only 50 to 60 places every year. I had to do something with this, because it was time to increase the positive impact of wild plants on the world.
An online full year foraging coursefor people who don't like sitting behind a screen, but prefer to go outside to discover plants, was that even possible?
It turned out to be a resounding yes!
The online foraging course first started in 2022.
2020-2022: Thanks to the power of whole-food plant-based nutrition and wild herbs, my autoimmune disease went into remission.
I took some plant-based nutrition classes and obtained the Plant-Based Nutrition certificate at eCornell University.
And hey, if you eat plant-based, you know you’ll get questions like “But what ARE you eating then?”
As a forager, you’ll be able to answer that question in the most creative way:
steamed hogweed shoots, thistle juice, nettle risotto,… After 30 years of not eating animals, I discovered answers like these just stopped all further questions :)
In 2022 I decided to challenge my imposter syndrome and finally get the manuscript published that had been sitting in my drawer for 10 years, and that everyone kept asking about.
Despite having some experience as a writer of articles for international magazines like Plant Healer Magazine and as a co-author of English and Dutch herbal books, this one felt quite different: a book of my own. But there were so many warm supporters on the sidelines that I persevered.
'In het wild geplukt' was born, the book for the nature lover like you that wants to get started with edible wild plants.
In 2023 I became a podcast maker. I started the Wilde Wieven Podcast. To my surprise and delight, it went viral. So many wild people seemed to miss a wild plant nerd community. And here it was!
In 2024, I am starting a new podcast series on foraging and herbalism in Europe.
Together we are stronger!
But you know what? It's not about me.
It's about the plants. And about you.
Plants gave us our very first breath. How much do you know about the other gifts they have to offer?
I am honored to have inspired thousands of people to give plants a more prominent place in their lives.
In a way that puts sustainability and safety first.
Are you next?
Tackle your plant blindness.
Wild plant wisdom is an essential skill, for now and in the future.
To me, foraging is a way of communicating with the land. A way to nourish my senses and feel wildly fulfilled.
— Lieve