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Wild food foraging: common side effects

27/9/2012

Pictured above: one of our cats, met on a foraging trip (with a friend's -big!- dog by the way, but that didn't seem to impress her at all). Asking around, we found out she was dumped there. She decided to adopt me (yes, that's how cats do it, not the other way around) and stayed with us ever since.

Eating wild plants is absolutely wonderful of course, but what about the side effects? Here are some that popped in my mind:

You may experience foraging withdrawal symptoms during the hardest winter months. Despite the frostbite on your hands from digging for dandelion greens under a thick layer of snow.
Seeing a lawn with weeds may make you produce saliva to an embarrassing degree.
It's not uncommon to become such an wild edibles fan that you want to serve your beloved ones stinging nettles for breakfast. They may or may not be open minded when it comes to that.
You may experience feelings of envy because birds and squirrels have easier access to berries.
You may have breathtaking moments of unexpected meetings with wild animals. Only those who experienced this, know what I mean. You'll probably want to share this with your friends and family, but will soon find out there are no words in the human language to describe this.
You might wonder the rest of your life how other people manage to keep their shoes clean. If you are wearing any, they are continuously covered in mud and dust, even after cleaning them and walking for only 5 minutes, in the city, to a job interview.
You'll get used to even the most astonished faces of people because you are grazing on a hedge in their yard.

I would love to hear your experiences on this one! What other foraging side effects do you know of?

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Water mint: another aromatic wild edible

26/9/2012

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Let me introduce you to watermint, how to identify it, and use it as a wild edible. And here's one of the glorious side effects of foraging: meeting unexpected guests.

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Eating weeds: meet common hogweed, and its highly aromatic seeds!

19/9/2012

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It's september and a bit too late to eat common hogweed leaves, as the plant has already flowered. But did you know the seeds are delicious as well? Let me show you how to identify the plant and how to use the seeds. I can never pass this plant without putting a single seed in my mouth. I just love to chew on it and let the aromas invade my mouth.

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Weed recipe: chickweed mushrooms

17/9/2012

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This is a very simple recipe, that simple that my kids helped me making this ever since they were babies. And it usually disappears just as fast as you can make it.

You will need:

2,5 cups of white mushrooms, dirt brushed away and cut in four
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup chickweed vinegar*
2 tablepoons fresh (wild) oregano, chopped
a sprig of rosemary
3 cloves of garlic (you can use wild garlic, known as ramsons, but 'regular garlic' works just as well)
a pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Take a glass jar and first put in the herbs, spices and sea salt, then the mushrooms.

Cover with the vinegar and oil, put the lid on and let marinate for at least an hour (or overnight), shaking the jar occasionally.

Serve as an appetizer or side dish. Decorate with wild edible flowers for an extra touch (I used ivy-leaved toadflax).

The mushrooms will absorb most of the fluid, but if there's any left over, it can be used as a salad dress.

* You can use plain apple cider vinegar as well in this recipe, but using a 'wild' vinegar will make the dish immensely more mineral-rich.
For the chickweed vinegar: pick some fresh chickweed, chop it and fill a glass jar (with non-metal lid) with it. Cover with apple cider vinegar. Close the jar, let steep for 3 weeks and strain. Vinegar does a great job getting all the minerals out of wild superfoods. Feel free to experiment and use other wild edibles as well.

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Sea-buckthorn berries, aka sea berries are wildelicious!

13/9/2012

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In an attempt to conquer my camera shyness...

Dutch: Duindoorn - French: Argousier - German: Sanddorn

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September is mushroom month: wild mushroom hunting, barefoot

10/9/2012

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September is mushroom month. Though a little bit more rain would be welcomed to fully awaken the wild mushrooms here, the season has definitely started. A few years ago I wrote this article for another blog, about wild edible mushroom harvesting, and barefoot foraging. Enjoy!

Autumn and winter will soon arrive again, and usually we tend to ‘blindfold’ our feet a bit more at this time of the year than in summertime. But even during the summer I simply don’t manage to keep the sandals on my feet. Especially not when I’m in nature – how could you feel free in a natural environment when your feet are held prison?

I’ve noticed that I rarely forage for wild plants anymore without being barefoot. Honestly: it make things so much easier, it’s so simple to find out where the soil becomes more humid, or warm, or sandy. With your bare feet, it’s a piece of cake to find out where the sun exactly was half an hour ago, as you feel right away where the earth is still glowing. It might be the no.1 simplest way to look for plants, especially those that only grow in very specific circumstances. A quest for plants that becomes a total sensuous experience.

In the late summer, I was able to live wildly from whatever the land had to offer: wild greens, berries of all kinds, wild apples, and the most delicious mushrooms. The mushrooms, that was something new for me. Guided by a good friend we went mushroom ‘hunting’. Yes, hunting that is. Everyone who ever picked mushrooms in the wild, will agree: it is something quite different. They seem to hide sometimes, or it so happens that you look at a spot where you where fruitlessly passing only five minutes ago, and it turns out that all of a sudden it’s loaded with mushrooms. “Actually, the best way to look for mushrooms, is having a beer first” I heard, “as it slows you down, and fogs your mind just the tiny bit you need in order to be able to find them”. Haven’t tried the beer yet, but barefooted, I found one mushroom after another, and another, and…

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Edible weed: Goldenrod

5/9/2012

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Dutch: Canadese guldenroede - French: Verge d'or du Canada, Gerbe-d'or - German: Kanadische Goldrute

Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) is in full bloom right now. You can't miss them, with their bright yelllow color, standing tall and attrackting loads of buzzy little creatures.
Here in Europe, it's considered an invasive weed. Planted years ago in gardens as an ornamental flower, it has now escaped into the wild and won't be stopped. But this lovely wild plant is edible!

The flowers and leaves can be steeped together or separately into a herbal tea, either when they're fresh or after drying. It may be good to know that this is a diuretic herb, which mean you may have to pee more frequently. So if you have plans for a long bus ride or have a business meeting ahead, goldenrod may not be the best tea to start your day with.

The flowers can be eaten raw and add sunshine to any dish; I usually sprinkle them on top of fruits or dips. The greens can be used raw or cooked; I usually mix them with other greens to make a soup or juice.

But done with the talking, I'm out now, to gather my winter supply of goldenrod and get my secret stash of seabuckthorn berries.
The thought alone makes me produce saliva to an embarrassing degree.

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Plant language: how to read plants

4/9/2012

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Pictured above: Herb Robert, a wild edible that has green leaves in shady places, and red ones when it grows in sunny spots.

Once you are a bit familiar with the basics of botany, you'll discover there *is* indeed a thing like plant language. And that a lot of people are missing it.

In nature, it's all about survival.

Plant species that grow on forest fround, under the trees, usually form leaves before the tree buds open, and disappear under the ground, storing their energy in bulbs, as soon as the trees have leaves. Like ramsons. Other plants, that grow in shady places, grow big leaves in order to have a bigger surface able to do photosynthesis. On the other hand, plants that grow in sunny spots will make small leaves in order to prevent sunburn or dehydration through evaporation. Think about rosemary, that grows in the sun, in sandy soil. Some plants like in such exteme climates that they may even make their leaves into needles, like cacti, and make their stem multi-surfaced and green to do the photosynthesis.

Some plants have flowers that mimic insects, to attrack insects who think they found a mate. And so pollonation happens. Orchids have a splendid talent for this stategy. Others have flowers with patterns that are invisible to the human eye, but that work like a map for bees. Some flowers, like evening primrose, lighten up at night to get the attention of night butterflies for pollination.

Plants like dandelion or maple trees play with the wind to spread their seeds. Burdock and cleavers have velcro-like seeds that will stick to to fur or clothes and travel miles away. Greater celandine attaches a sweet candy on their seeds, so that ants take the candy with them, eat it and throw away the seed - pretty much like we do with apples.

They are all very different and diverse. But just by using your senses, plants already tell you a lot. They tell you how much water they need, how they like their soil, how much sunlight they love, who they like as company.

And knowing plant language may prove to be helpful in situations you'd never think of. We've been looking for a new place to live or quite a while, and on a few occasions I've heard brokers say "You can ignore the moist in the walls, it's a temporary situation, there's no stuctural problem; this is actually very dry land". One look in the yard, with willow and alder trees, and meadowsweet, told us a whole other story.

This is also the first thing I advise people to do when they move and have a new yard: the first year, just observe what grows there spontanuously. The land will speak to you through the plants. They will tell you how the soil is, rich or poor, clay or sand or anything else. You'll discover the sunny spots, the spots that only get sun in the morning or evening, and the shady spots. The plants will tell you which animals live there, how much rain has fallen recently, and how windy the place is.

Just watch closely!

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