Fora-Lab (Foraging Laboratory) connects people with nature through the wonders of wild plants. Our workshops are run by local plant experts in Slovenia’s beautiful nature, where you will learn about foraging wild plants and their uses in home cooking and cosmetics. Once we forage the local seasonal plants we will experiment with recipes and turn them into tasty delicacies (think pesto, jam, tea and even liquors!) or medical remedies (such as a cream, lip balm, etc). Finally, whatever you produce in the laboratory, will be packaged as unique souvenirs to take home with you, to remind you of Slovenia’s wilderness or to share it with your dearest people back home.
The first part of the workshop starts in nature. As one of our foraging experts puts it - half of the health benefits of foraging comes from consuming the plant, the other comes from the act of picking plants itself. It connects you with nature, it’s energy and strengths. You will learn valuable facts and insights about different plants’ properties, seasonality and uses, as well as how to forage correctly and responsibly.
It’s not enough to know what to pick, but also how to use it and what you can turn it into. The second part of the workshop is in our culinary lab! With the pesto you make from foraged plants, you’ll never buy supermarket pesto again! Learn how to make your own herbal teas and cosmetic remedies and your pharmacy visits may become a lot less frequent. And that homebrewed liquor you make with wild berries will become a hit at any dinner party.
Imagine you make the most delicious rosehip gin and then take it home in an old plastic Coke bottle. Yuk! At Fora Lab, we shamelessly judge the drink by it’s bottle, which is why in the last part of the workshop, you will craft the most elegant bottles, jars or sachets for the product your foraged and prepped. This way you’ll take back a unique souvenir or have a beautiful gift for someone back home.
After over a decade of living in London, we decided to move somewhere greener and after years of research trips around Europe, we settled on Slovenia, a country where ⅔ of the land is covered in forests! It was the year 2020, the peak of the Covid pandemic and lockdowns and without much opportunity to meet people, we ended up spending most of our free time in nature. We were amazed how respectful people here are to nature and how they live in harmony with it. We soon learned that their main national sport is foraging (sorry, Luka Doncic!) and it’s not just the old ladies that practice it (stereoptypical, but true for most other cultures), but also families, kids and pretty much everyone! We started collecting chestnuts, wild garlic, elderflowers and other natural wonders and turning them into tasty goodies. The more we learned from Slovenians about foraging, the more we fell in love with this hobby and in autumn 2022, we decided to share it with the world. This is how Fora Lab was born - a series of wild foraging and culinary workshops.
Tasty regards,
Margarita & Dejan
It’s located in the northern part of Central Slovenia, at the foot of the Kamnik and Savinja Alps, not far from the capital city of Ljubljana. It’s considered to be one of the most beautiful medieval towns in Slovenia, and we’re reminded of this by the interesting architectural heritage. Just a few steps from the old town centre is the start of the popular recreational footpath to the Old Castle, where there the ruins of a former fortress are still visible. Kamnik is marked by the River Kamniška Bistrica, the source of which is located in a valley with the same name at the foot of the southern slopes of the Kamnik and Savinja Alps.
Discover Slovenian medicinal plants in nature and get a kit+recipe to make your very own natural first-aid cream at home. The workshop will be conducted in English.
Discover Slovenian nature in a unique experience: pick wild plants, turn them into tasty products and craft the packaging for your souvenirs. The workshop will be conducted in English.
