Meadow Lab offers education about wild edible plants and fermentation.

My name is Agata Bielska, I founded Meadow Lab in 2016. I am an artist, chef, forager, fermentation and wild plants educator. For over 15 years, wild edible plants and fermented food have been an important part of my everyday meals. It all started with a love of plant-based cooking, and the search for new flavors, but also longing to reconnect with nature. Over time, the use of wild edible plants and fermented food has become my philosophy, a way of life and my work.

 I currently live on the edge of a beautiful beech forest in the south of Sweden. Here I teach about wild edible plants, offer walks, wild food and fermentation workshops. Part of my daily routine is collecting and growing my own food. My goal is not to be completely self-sufficient, but to feel closer to nature and to where my food comes from, and  to make the best possible choices for the climate and my family’s health.

article about me in Sydsvenskan – July 2021

 My story

I was born in a big industrial city (Lodz, Poland), but I was always called by forest and wild nature.

It was my great grandmother who knew about edible and medicinal plants, mushrooms and fermented food, more than anyone in my family. I remember walking with her and listening to countless stories about plants and mushrooms.  She passed away when I was 7 years old, but it made a strong impression on me. Since I learned to read, books about medicinal plants were my favorite.

This was the beginning of my journey of learning traditional  and modern uses of wild edible plants and  techniques of fermentation from all around the world.   I was lucky to meet many great teachers, herbalists, ethnobotanists, and old wise womens on my trips to Greece, Croatia, Italy and Turkey.

Before wild edible plants and fermentation became my main occupancy, I studied visual arts (Master Diploma in painting and video art). For 8 years I was working as a freelance artist, a teacher in art school, and a vegetarian chef but I missed being outside,  in nature… And then I moved out of the city to a small cabin in the forest. For some more years I was working as a vegetarian chef , but with time, my main interest became educating.

In 2008 I started to teach others about wild edible plants and fermentation, since then I have led numerous workshops, lectures and plant walks. I love to inspire others to reconnect with nature’s superpowers.

In 2015 love called me to move to South of Sweden. Here I live in a beech forest cottage with my husband Micke, 3 dogs and a cat.