Wild plant forager blog - EDIBLE WEEDS nourish your wild wisdom

Edible spruce: tea, infusion and chewing gum

30/5/2012

Dutch: Spar - French: Epicéa - German: Fichte

There are many things to be said about spruce. But few words are suitable for describing its greatness. So here's where I want to invite you to go out and meet up with a spruce tree. A spruce is a sensuous adventure for anyone who is pepared to open his/her senses.

Take a close look at these branches. Do you see the parts that are lighter green? Filled with aroma and vitamin C. They make a lovely infusion. But beware: this is the new growth for this year. So spread your harvesting area; you don't want to exhaust the tree.
You can also see a green baby spruce cone. If you thought only squirrels and birds like spuce cones, think again. These make a great combination with the needles. Definitely worth a try as well.

And then, take a look at this:

That resin! We love to roll this between our fingers into tiny balls that we use as chewing gum. Makes fingers and teeth very, very sticky, but it's so worth it.

Want more? In a few days we'll share our special spruce recipe!

Wild foraging in the woods

28/5/2012

We just got back from a week in the woods. We loved our time there. Sharing our sleeping space with a large bat colony was exciting, hearing the owls cry at night was amazing, seeing our free range kids thrive was wonderful and of course there was a lot of plant foraging involved.

Some of the wild edible plants we ate right away, but we also gathered a whole new stash of strawberry, blackberry and raspberry leaves, all of which we love as herbal teas or infusions.
We also made some wild plant vinegars, which I will post about later. We made lots of pictures, so you can easily follow the recipes step by step.

Pictured above: gathering woodland strawberry leaves to dry.

Healthy habits for kids: "I love you, nettles"

20/5/2012

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Just this morning when I was picking some stinging nettle in the garden with my kids (both just turned 3), I overheard this conversation between them:

My son: "You are really stingy, nettles. But that's ok, because I love you so much."
My daughter: "Yes, me too, I love you soooo much, nettles!"

:)

Time lapse dandelion flower to seed head

19/5/2012

Weed recipe: Wild green spring salad

19/5/2012

This was our spring salad of edible wild greens today:

Hairy bittercress (pictured above) (Dutch: Kleine veldkers - French: Cardamine hirsute - German: Behaarte Schaumkraut)
Perennial wall-rocket (Dutch: Kleine zandkool - French: Diplotaxis fausse roquette - German: Schmalblättrige Doppelsame, Wilde Rauke)
Chickweed (Dutch: Vogelmuur - French: Mouron des oiseaux - German: Vogelmiere)

with a dressing of hemp oil and ramson vinegar. A delight!

How to pick stinging nettle barehand without getting stung

17/5/2012

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Dutch: Brandnetel - Fench: Ortie - German: Brennessel

Usually I get a lot of shocked comments when I pick a stinging nettle sample during one of my weed walks. "But you are touching it with bare hands! Doesn't that hurt?"

The thing is, I'm not a fan of gloves (well, I am thankful for them during frost times, but I am talking about garden gloves here). They are blindfolding my hands, and I like to use all my senses, especially when I'm in nature. So I got some exercise in barehand picking. And I can tell you, your body does get used to it. I've been doing this for over 15 years and hardly ever get stung anymore. And if I do, it feels more like stinging nettle tingling kisses to me than burning.

But here are some general tips:

The largest amount of stinging hairs can be found on the leaves, especially the upper side. This means that stinging nettle stems are a good option for touching, carefully avoiding the leaves.
Stinging nettle hairs work by friction: grab the plant firmly and it will do less harm than when you carefully stroke it.
If you have a hard time holding them down while chopping them, put them in the freezer for a while first.

But above all, I want to encourage people to focus and see this as an exercise in meditation. This is the lesson of stinging nettle: she loudly and clearly tells us that she's there. She will be harmless when you pay attention. Take your time when foraging; it's not just picking plants. Seriously.

If you still get stung, sorrel leaves, plantain leaves and ground ivy leaves all are good remedies (and usually they grow where nettle grows). Just chew up the leaves to make a poultice, place them on the needed area and keep in place with a piece of cloth (like a cotton handkerchief).

Happy foraging!

The art of foraging: mind the others

14/5/2012

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We live and learn, and after many years of foraging, it becomes a lot more than just picking your food; it's a way of thinking and feeling. And we learn to see the bigger picture.

It had been raining for days and days and days and yesterday we finally had some sunshine. We went out to harvest some wild edibles, and I found these glorious white dead-nettles, fully blooming. My saliva production was going crazy. And yet, I didn't think about picking them. I realized that, after all this rain, I wasn't the only animal around that was happy to see these nectar sources. In fact, there were lots of other wild edibles for me and my family; the flowers were now for the insects to feast on after a time of lack, and for the flower to reproduce.

Healthy habits for kids: wild green juices

11/5/2012

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Sometimes I just can't believe that my children are asking on a daily basis for wild green juices! They LOVE drinking them and LOVE making them. To make green juices, a slow juicer really is best, and we have a manual one. This makes us not so dependent of electricity (we want to lower our carbon footprint, and it's also very convenient when we're on the road, hiking) and we get a workout everytime we use it :)

Greens are a very important food group, and an essential nutrient source for humans. It's so logical when you think about it: look around in nature. What is the single most omnipresent color? Nevertheless, most greens are considered 'waste' material, even though they are perfectly edible. Yes, it's really ok to ingest carrot greens and cauliflower leaves.

But the most nutrient dense greens are the wild ones. They may not be the most popular ones, but once you get to know them and feel their power, it's hard to go back. Plus they are free, not entirely unimportant if you consume a lot of them.

Here's one of our beloved wild green juice recipes:

one big handful of stinging nettle tops
one big handful of ground elder
one big handful of chickweed
one apple
1/2 lemon (we leave the -organic- peel on for juicing, this way you get the essential oils as well. Makes the flavor more intense and adds detox and antibacterial properties to your juice).

Juice them all and drink immediately, in small sips ("drink your food and chew your drinks", remember?). Enjoy!

So what is a weed?

6/5/2012

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Yes, what *is * a weed? Is it a strong plant whose growth cannot be kept under control? Is it flora that will grow anywhere, no matter what?

Here's a story I'd like to share with you; it happened a few years ago, but is very representive of how we think about plants. Clarissa Pinkola Estés writes about our wild nature in Women who run with the Wolves and asks how we came to a point where we love dogs and call them man's best friend but bash its wild ancestor, the big bad wolf. Same goes for plants: we all want a big garden but an amazing amount of money and time is spent on pesticides and weed control.

This is what happened, when I was in the woods, taking pictures of some enchanting moss:

Lady: Eh, excuse me... can I ask what you are doing? What is it that you are taking pictures of? Moss?
Me: Yes, I am making some close ups of moss.
Lady: Oh, I see. Well, as a matter of fact, you are right: it's quite extraordinary, moss, isn't it?
Me: Yes, it is.
Lady: The texture is so unique and those colors, especially after the rain... it's of such beauty that it's hard to put in words.
Me: I agree.
Lady: Yes, it's so wonderfull, moss.

(both of us silent for a while)

Lady: Except in the garden. Then it's a nightmare and the only right thing to do then is kill it.

Wild edible plant: 7 reasons why stinging nettle is a staple food in our family

4/5/2012

Dutch: Brandnetel - French: Ortie - German: Brennessel

(ok, you may have guessed this one) there is plenty to harvest
it's a superfood like no other
it's tasty in endless variations
it's rich in minerals: calcium, iron, magnesium and others
it's a vitamin bomb: vitamins C, K, betacarotenes, B1, B2,...
it's easy to dry for later use
identification is a piece of cake (you'll recognize its sting with eyes closed)