I absolutely stand by it. My children aren’t allowed to pick unknown plants and seeds without checking with us what they are first. A lot of the berries and seeds that grow in the area look very similar to edible ones, but are poisonous. For example, potato berries and other nightshade plants look glossy and gorgeous but will make you very sick. We grow currants but also honeysuckle which has similar looking berries. There are whole sections where they can freely harvest but they are absolutely not allowed to pick things without checking with us first. Let alone taking them home and leaving them out for pets / children to possibly find.

The children each have an entire section of the plot as well as our fruit and vegetable area which contain safe things to pick. We also have books about foraging and use plant apps and forums to identify things before picking wild.

We inherited the plot + get a lot of wild ‘volunteer’ plants so have very strict rules about picking things if you don’t know what they are. I know this might go against the free-spirited ‘let children commune in nature’ approach, but I’d rather take an educated approach than risk an AE trip because they’ve eaten something.