Coastal Harvest Workshop
Time: 9.30 am to 2.30 pm
The half-day interactive tour is all about learning the fundamentals of foraging wild food with Sally Barnes. A hands-on workshop where you get access to some of Sally’s secret spots discovered through years of foraging the West Cork Seashore and its environs. Participants will learn to identify wild ingredients like sea beet, sea radish, sea plantain, shellfish, and seaweed. Depending on the weather, we might forage in the woods, where you will get to identify mushrooms, nuts, wild herbs, trees and wildlife.
The tour will end back at the Keep with an interactive lunch where you will learn how to prepare what we foraged that morning. Questions throughout the morning are encouraged. Note-taking is advisable.
“Thanks for a great day and fantastic fare. A lovely introduction to the delights our environment has to offer, I look forward to discovering and sampling much more” - Marc
What to expect
Welcome coffee/tea/well water on arrival
A talk about Woodcock Smokery and Ireland’s vibrant culinary heritage
Learn to identify wild ingredients like sea beet, sea radish, sea plantain, shellfish, and seaweed.
Tastings of Sally Barnes smoked products such as cold smoked haddock, hot and cold smoked Albacore tuna
Casual sharing lunch of your foraged treasure, salads, West Cork cheeses, bread, pickles and more
Something sweet
Well water and homemade cordials
Other smoked fish products and local fare are available to purchase directly after the workshop
Full description of workshop schedule below
9.30 am
You will be welcomed into the famous Smokery of Sally Ferns Barnes for a hearty mug of tea or coffee and conversation about what it means to have been working with sea life in a peripheral coastal community in West Cork for the last 44 years.
10 am
Carpooling together, we will leave the Keep and venture to local coastal spots armed with a foraging bag and a sharp knife, which we will provide.
Foraging will happen regardless of the weather - please bring boots and a raincoat.
Please note that the tour starts at 10 am SHARP, as time and tide waits for no man!
10.30 am
Weather/seasonality depending, you will be shown how to identify and harvest sustainably wild foods like Sea Beet, Sea Kale, Sea Radish, Pennywort, Herb Robert, Scurvygrass, Brown Shrimp, Mussels, Common Prawn, Periwinkles, Shore Crabs, Brown Crabs, Gutweed, Sugar Kelp, Chanterelles and Amethyst Deceivers. We will hop between secret locations, ensuring we leave enough wild food for the next person to forage.
You may or may not be blindfolded between locations!
12.30 pm
We will head back to the Keep to enjoy the fruits of your labour for a magnificent lunch.
1 pm
We will cook lunch together, where you will learn how to prepare what we foraged that morning. We might make a risotto, soup, steamed mussels - you never know what we might find that morning.
Lunchtime - a long table event featuring your foraged lunch, some of Sally Barnes’ hot and cold-smoked products, local artisan cheeses, salads, pickles, chutneys and bread.
2.30 pm
Time to go home and practice what you have learned with friends, colleagues and family.
Time: 9.30 am to 2.30 pm
The half-day interactive tour is all about learning the fundamentals of foraging wild food with Sally Barnes. A hands-on workshop where you get access to some of Sally’s secret spots discovered through years of foraging the West Cork Seashore and its environs. Participants will learn to identify wild ingredients like sea beet, sea radish, sea plantain, shellfish, and seaweed. Depending on the weather, we might forage in the woods, where you will get to identify mushrooms, nuts, wild herbs, trees and wildlife.
The tour will end back at the Keep with an interactive lunch where you will learn how to prepare what we foraged that morning. Questions throughout the morning are encouraged. Note-taking is advisable.
“Thanks for a great day and fantastic fare. A lovely introduction to the delights our environment has to offer, I look forward to discovering and sampling much more” - Marc
What to expect
Welcome coffee/tea/well water on arrival
A talk about Woodcock Smokery and Ireland’s vibrant culinary heritage
Learn to identify wild ingredients like sea beet, sea radish, sea plantain, shellfish, and seaweed.
Tastings of Sally Barnes smoked products such as cold smoked haddock, hot and cold smoked Albacore tuna
Casual sharing lunch of your foraged treasure, salads, West Cork cheeses, bread, pickles and more
Something sweet
Well water and homemade cordials
Other smoked fish products and local fare are available to purchase directly after the workshop
Full description of workshop schedule below
9.30 am
You will be welcomed into the famous Smokery of Sally Ferns Barnes for a hearty mug of tea or coffee and conversation about what it means to have been working with sea life in a peripheral coastal community in West Cork for the last 44 years.
10 am
Carpooling together, we will leave the Keep and venture to local coastal spots armed with a foraging bag and a sharp knife, which we will provide.
Foraging will happen regardless of the weather - please bring boots and a raincoat.
Please note that the tour starts at 10 am SHARP, as time and tide waits for no man!
10.30 am
Weather/seasonality depending, you will be shown how to identify and harvest sustainably wild foods like Sea Beet, Sea Kale, Sea Radish, Pennywort, Herb Robert, Scurvygrass, Brown Shrimp, Mussels, Common Prawn, Periwinkles, Shore Crabs, Brown Crabs, Gutweed, Sugar Kelp, Chanterelles and Amethyst Deceivers. We will hop between secret locations, ensuring we leave enough wild food for the next person to forage.
You may or may not be blindfolded between locations!
12.30 pm
We will head back to the Keep to enjoy the fruits of your labour for a magnificent lunch.
1 pm
We will cook lunch together, where you will learn how to prepare what we foraged that morning. We might make a risotto, soup, steamed mussels - you never know what we might find that morning.
Lunchtime - a long table event featuring your foraged lunch, some of Sally Barnes’ hot and cold-smoked products, local artisan cheeses, salads, pickles, chutneys and bread.
2.30 pm
Time to go home and practice what you have learned with friends, colleagues and family.
Time: 9.30 am to 2.30 pm
The half-day interactive tour is all about learning the fundamentals of foraging wild food with Sally Barnes. A hands-on workshop where you get access to some of Sally’s secret spots discovered through years of foraging the West Cork Seashore and its environs. Participants will learn to identify wild ingredients like sea beet, sea radish, sea plantain, shellfish, and seaweed. Depending on the weather, we might forage in the woods, where you will get to identify mushrooms, nuts, wild herbs, trees and wildlife.
The tour will end back at the Keep with an interactive lunch where you will learn how to prepare what we foraged that morning. Questions throughout the morning are encouraged. Note-taking is advisable.
“Thanks for a great day and fantastic fare. A lovely introduction to the delights our environment has to offer, I look forward to discovering and sampling much more” - Marc
What to expect
Welcome coffee/tea/well water on arrival
A talk about Woodcock Smokery and Ireland’s vibrant culinary heritage
Learn to identify wild ingredients like sea beet, sea radish, sea plantain, shellfish, and seaweed.
Tastings of Sally Barnes smoked products such as cold smoked haddock, hot and cold smoked Albacore tuna
Casual sharing lunch of your foraged treasure, salads, West Cork cheeses, bread, pickles and more
Something sweet
Well water and homemade cordials
Other smoked fish products and local fare are available to purchase directly after the workshop
Full description of workshop schedule below
9.30 am
You will be welcomed into the famous Smokery of Sally Ferns Barnes for a hearty mug of tea or coffee and conversation about what it means to have been working with sea life in a peripheral coastal community in West Cork for the last 44 years.
10 am
Carpooling together, we will leave the Keep and venture to local coastal spots armed with a foraging bag and a sharp knife, which we will provide.
Foraging will happen regardless of the weather - please bring boots and a raincoat.
Please note that the tour starts at 10 am SHARP, as time and tide waits for no man!
10.30 am
Weather/seasonality depending, you will be shown how to identify and harvest sustainably wild foods like Sea Beet, Sea Kale, Sea Radish, Pennywort, Herb Robert, Scurvygrass, Brown Shrimp, Mussels, Common Prawn, Periwinkles, Shore Crabs, Brown Crabs, Gutweed, Sugar Kelp, Chanterelles and Amethyst Deceivers. We will hop between secret locations, ensuring we leave enough wild food for the next person to forage.
You may or may not be blindfolded between locations!
12.30 pm
We will head back to the Keep to enjoy the fruits of your labour for a magnificent lunch.
1 pm
We will cook lunch together, where you will learn how to prepare what we foraged that morning. We might make a risotto, soup, steamed mussels - you never know what we might find that morning.
Lunchtime - a long table event featuring your foraged lunch, some of Sally Barnes’ hot and cold-smoked products, local artisan cheeses, salads, pickles, chutneys and bread.
2.30 pm
Time to go home and practice what you have learned with friends, colleagues and family.
Please note
You can arrive from 9.30 am onwards. The workshop starts at 10 am SHARP.
The foraging tour takes place a short drive away from the Keep. We will carpool together.
Foraging takes place hail, rain or shine.
Please wear comfortable clothing and flat shoes. Please bring boots and a raincoast.
As lunch is a casual long table event, most dietary requirements are easy to accommodate — please let us know when booking.
Regretfully, foraging / bathroom access is not suitable for wheelchair users.
Please have a look at our terms and conditions for booking events.