Foraging as a child

I grew up on a farm in Sweden that had a fair bit of land with it, and with the land came the right to hunt. My dad was a hunter and we often had moose, deer and hare for dinner.

I'd go fishing for rainbow trout in the river. We had our own cattle and pigs so we often did a slaughter at home, all of which I helped with. I can skin most animals and know how to treat the carcass.

We used to pick strawberries at a pick-your-own place and we used to ache for days after. We had black and red currant bushes at home, and wild raspberries nearby. Lingonberry and blueberry (or bilberries as you call them) was readily available in the forests around my parents' farm and we used special rake bags to pick them. We'd freeze some to have for pudding, but mum would make jams and cordials too.

We never used elderflowers, I don't think, but we did use rowan berries to make a jelly to go with meat dishes - delicious.