When my father was young his mum(frederick's daughter) used to cook sparrow pie

and my dad used to tell me how to cook Baked hedgehog

....I never did cook one....pmsl!!!
He also used to go into the local woods near where we lived and pick wild mushrooms....he knew which was poisonious and which wasn't....he made nettle tea, could skin rabbits, pluck pheasants etc

Who taught him all that???....his mum??? Frederick his grandad?

They're the sort of things gypsies ate, especially baked hedgehog

This is why I want to find more on Joseph Elks and Sarah...did they live a gypsy life?..was joseph a gypsy or was just Sarah's side of the family.