About Us
Tellus Mater is Latin for ‘Mother Earth’ and a play on ‘tell us mother’ as we can all learn so much about the world around us (and ourselves) when we take time to enjoy nature in whatever way that may be.
What we offer
Based in the beautiful Northamptonshire countryside, Tellus Mater delivers both foraging and wild food education, nature walks, workshops and talks that are carefully designed to both inspire and educate participants on the wild foods that surround us, yet often go unnoticed.
Lizzy set up Tellus Mater with the belief that learning nature through various means should be accessible to all, and we have created various options that are available to both private clients, businesses, groups and individuals. Our own foraging walks are largely based in Northamptonshire and its surrounding counties including Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Warwickshire and Bedfordshire.
We also work in partnership with councils, venues, restaurants and chefs, public houses, estates and both charity and community groups across the whole of the UK to offer bespoke packages and events.
Meet Lizzy
Lizzy Mary-Jane Farmer
Founder
(Mum, Forager, Baker, Food Resilience Advocate & Writer)
I have incredible memories as a child of just getting up and out the door into the countryside with my late dad David. He was a source of unending encouragement and had a huge influence on my life. I lost him when I was just eighteen in an RTA and this impacted my life massively.
I tried to keep true to his teachings when I too had children of my own. We would enjoy walks in nature together, admiring all the flora, fauna and fungi, whilst occasionally picking up goodies that we could cook with or add to cakes and other bakes later that day.
With a degree in history and psychology my work has always been shaped by a natural fascination with how humans have sustained themselves across time, not just through what they ate, but how they lived, coped and cared for themselves and each other.
This natural curiosity led me to rediscover wild foods, not as something new, but as something deeply familiar, evoking memories of childhood days spent making mudpies on the back doorstep, picking blackberries and gathering both hazelnuts and sweet chestnuts with my sisters and dad.
The psychology side of my degree continues to shape how I work today, exploring how we care for ourselves, how we heal, place healthy boundaries, and how we return to being more grounded, kinder humans via working on our own traumas, addictions, and patterns. This journey for me is deeply entwined with nature and wild food. Reconnecting with the land as a way to reconnect with ourselves and grow, lean and live happier lives.
Part of my own journey has also been receiving a diagnosis of combined ADHD. Understanding this has helped me embrace both the challenges and strengths it brings. It fuels my creativity, curiosity, and resilience, which all feed into my work — whether I’m leading foraging walks, baking with wild or reduced-price ingredients, or writing about food and well-being.
The business emerged as I wanted my youngest son, who is now eight years old, to engage more in nature as I had done as a child, and indeed my other three (now adult children) had done too over the years.
Friends and family joined our walks and I was soon getting asked to extend this to others so they could feel the awesome benefits of connecting with nature via learning wild foods with both confidence and excitement. Tellus Mater was born, and I am loving the adventure!
Lizzy is fully insured and a proud member of the Association of Foragers. Enhanced DBS. Level Two Food Hygiene & Safety Certificate. Emergency First Aid at Work.
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