About the Author

Markus Strauss

Dr. Markus Strauß is one of the most renowned experts on edible wild plants and self-sufficiency. After his studies and professional career, he lived a self-sufficient and nature-oriented life for nine years on a farm in the Southern Harz Mountains. He became acquainted with the smallholder structures of Nepal, lived for five years as an urban self-sufficient individual in Stuttgart, and then returned to the countryside, to the Allgäu region. Today, he works as an author, consultant, lecturer, and is also highly sought after as an expert on television.

At his initiative, he has been offering, since 2013, a part-time continuing education program in cooperation with the Weiterbildungsakademie der Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Umwelt Nürtingen-Geislingen (Academy for Continuing Education at Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences) to become a "Specialist Consultant for Self-Sufficiency with Edible Wild Plants (HfWU)". In this nationally certified course, participants learn in theory and practice how edible wild plants can be successfully integrated into various societal areas.

In 2015, Markus Strauß established the Edible Wild Plant Parks Foundation (EWILPA). The foundation's goal is to establish wild plant parks in the spirit of a modern commons and as a future opportunity for environmental and nature conservation, education, and health alike. These edible landscape parks, easily accessible even for urban dwellers, offer free foraging opportunities for wild vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs, wild fruits, nuts, edible flowers, tree fruits, and mushrooms. These natural areas not only serve local self-sufficiency with healthy food and recreation but also fulfill important social and ecological functions.

In the summer of 2018, the first larger EWILPA will be inaugurated in Kemnath-Waldeck in Upper Palatinate. Further projects in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are under development.