Foraging or The Earth Provides pt. 4

Scan of a John William Waterhouse 1890 oil painting
from freeparking on Flickr

The first three parts of Foraging presented a few easy to identify, widespread, edible plant species. In this part we will look at how one integrates foraging as a regular part of their lifestyle. One begins by simply "paying attention" to plants their differences and similarities. Once one begins this simple exercise, one will see a diverse community of competing and interdependent organisms where many, less observant individuals, see an homogeneous background.


A little education on the basics of botany goes a long way to making one's observations of the natural world more rewarding. There are many online resources that offer information on botany. A good primer on Basic Botany from, The University of Arizona: College of Agriculture & Life Sciences is available online. Many foragers and naturalists keep a journal where they make sketches of plants and collect leaves to identify later. If you like to take quizzes to with your course another very good primer on Botany Basics is available from Oregon State University Extension Service.


A little understanding of Basic Botany makes plant identification go a lot easier. The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service has pictures of over 40,000+ plants online, along with profiles. A great resource they offer are downloadable, and online identification keys. The downloadable keys are great for laptops for in the field use.


A basic understanding of taxonomy is also very helpful in plant identification for one's foraging endeavors. For example when one sees a reference angiosperms one will know that it is referring to the large diverse group of plants that produce flowers. Should the reference be to Gymnosperms, with some taxonomic education, one would know that the reference is to a group of plants that produce ovules (eggs) on scales. The scales are usually arranged in cone-like structures. The largest group of Gymnosperms are the Conifers.


Since Darwin, taxonomy has attempted to organize organisms in relation to their evolutionary history. This organization scheme is known as Biological Systematics. Plants belonging to the same family will have similar characteristics. Once one knows the characteristics of an order or family understanding the plants contained therein becomes easier.


A good tool to explore the taxonomy of the plants you identify can be found here.
http://plants.usda.gov/classification.html


A basic overview of taxonomy can be found here.
http://faculty.fmcc.suny.edu/mcdarby/majors101book/Chapter_02-A_Bit_of_History/02-Explaining-Life-Classification.htm#PLANTAE


Tree of life website has an interactive tool to explore the relationships of organisms.
http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html

Drill down through a plant evolutionary tree from a site at Berkeley.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/plants/plantaesy.html

A good site on foraging.
http://www.wildcrafting.net/

Another good foraging site.
http://www.naturessecretlarder.co.uk/

Oklahoma Wildcrafting
http://www.okwildcrafting.com/

"Just twenty plants provide the majority of food eaten, yet there are thousands of other useful plants which have not reached mainstream attention. You can find details of many of them here."
Plants for a Future
http://www.pfaf.org/index.php

"The website of the Wild Man of food, Fergus Drennan; forager extraordinaire!"
http://www.wildmanwildfood.com/

We will end this post with a video featuring Steve Brill. He has been giving "wild food and ecology tours" in New York city since April, 1982. His website is at:
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/

Foraging or The Earth Provides pt. 3

Photo Public Domain wikiCommons

Plantago is a genus of about 200 species of small, inconspicuous plants commonly called plantains. They share this name with the very dissimilar plantain, a kind of banana. Most are herbaceous plants, though a few are subshrubs growing to 60 cm (23.5 in) tall. The leaves are sessile, but have a narrow part near the stem which is a pseudo-petiole. They have three or five parallel veins that diverge in the wider part of the leaf. Leaves are broad or narrow, depending on the species. The inflorescences are borne on stalks typically 5-40 cm (2.25-15.75 in) tall, and can be a short cone or a long spike, with numerous tiny wind-pollinated flowers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago

Plantains ( Plantago major) often are found in lawns and lots. It is an inconspicuous plant that is often overlooked. The leaves can be eaten raw.

Photo by Martin LaBar on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinlabar/314786264/

"In some human cultures, acorns once constituted a dietary staple, though they are now generally considered a minor food with the exception of Native American and Korean cultures. In Korean culture in particular, dotorimuk, acorn jelly, and dotori gooksoo, acorn noodles, are eaten by some on a daily basis."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn

Acorns must be dried, then soaked in water, replacing the water several times, to remove bitter taste. It can then be ground dried and used in place of conventional flour.

"I bring all the acorns home from collecting, and dry them in the oven at pilot light temperatures or very low heat. This is just to dry them and kill off bugs.

When I get around to it, I crack the shells off, and then I soak the shelled acorns in water. Generally, I soak the acorns for a few days to about two weeks, changing the water at least twice a day. When the acorns are no longer bitter, I grind them while wet through a meat grinder.

The coarse meal is then placed in cookie pans to dry in the sun or oven. When dry, I store in large jars in the cupboard. The meal is then used in place of wheat flour in recipes, or half and half in various recipes."
http://www.self-reliance.net/acorn.html

Photo from Mgmax on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgmax/2757555007/

Lambsquarter ( Chenopodium berlandieri ) is common in many areas from urban to countryside. It is also known as goosefoot, or pigweed. It is one of the more mild tasting edibles and is good eaten raw. Many people use it in place of spinach.

"Lambsquarters is a close cousin to spinach, but far, far more nutritious. It ranks right up there with Dandelion, Watercress and Nettles as one of nature’s nutritional powerhouses. It has a mild, green flavor like our domestic greens. In fact it is a relative of Swiss chard, beets and a few exotic garden greens like orach, all in the Chenopodium family."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambsquarter

Here's a short video from Shyguyx12 showing several edibles.

Foraging or The Earth Provides pt. 2

Stinging Nettles ( Urtica dioica ) WikiCommons

One of the first plants, next to dandelions, I learned to recognize was stinging nettles ( Urtica dioica ). When I was a young boy of about 6 or 7 years old I would go with my father through the timber and across the pastures looking for morel mushrooms. On one of these early excursion I went charging through a batch of lush green foliage arms outstretched brushing through the soft, friendly appearing plants. I never got through the patch before I was screeching in agony and sobbing in pain. My father explaining that the most intense part would be over in about 15 to 20 minutes did little to sooth my anguish. He explained that those silky looking soft plants where stinging nettles and should be avoided. I have never failed to recognize them since.


When I was 12 and had acquired a book from the library on edible plants, I was shocked and amazed to see stinging nettles listed as not only an edible, but one of the more tasty and nutritious ones. They grow in most areas of the world and are as at home on an overgrown city lot, or roadside, as they are in creek bottoms and timber edges. The young leaves are the best for forage, for this reason many suggest collecting in the spring, but there are usually plenty of new leaves on the upper reaches of the plant throughout the growing season.

"Nettles' micronutrient profile blasts other greens out of the soil. They are high in calcium, iron, vitamins and "contain more chlorophyll than almost any other plant in existence," according to the editors of Organic Gardening and Farming in "Unusual Vegetables" (Rodale Press, 1978). No wonder Elliott recommends them to students and clients "if they're feeling anemic and tired. It's a very vitalizing type of herb," she says."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/16/FD270263.DTL

The above referenced quote comes from an informative article with several recipes. The article also illustrates the fact nettles are becoming an item available in several of the bay area restaurants. They are beginning to be sold in green markets.


They can be eaten raw by "tacoing" the leaf from the bottom and smashing the top of the leaf together then folding all the edges in and smashing again to ensure all stinging hairs have been destroyed. Boiling or steaming the plants, for about ten minutes, also removes it's stinging abilities. Another technique, I've heard, that is used is to hold the plant next to a hot open fire until it wilts.


Here is a video featuring Frank Cook on a plant walk discussing stinging nettles.





In part 3 of Foraging or The Earth Provides we will take a brief look at a few more common edibles Then part 4 will contain a list of resources for the reader to further pursue the topic.

Foraging or The Earth Provides pt. 1

Illustration by simmons3d on Flicker.

The corporate induced reality of fast food franchises, super super marts, internationally distributed processed food products, and convenience driven consumerism has divorced humankind of the intimate embrace from our source of sustenance. Ask one person where our food comes from and they may answer "the Grocery store". Ask another with a broader view and they may say "the farm". Ask the farmer and they may say "from the garden, the fields, the tilled and seeded earth, unless it is a corporate farm then they will likely say "Monsanto". In reality it is in the natural places, the places untouched by the saw or plow, that the most enriching and diverse sources of sustenance can be found.


One does not have to find a pristine old growth forest, or an undisturbed ecosystem, to find food, despite their being optimum. The abandoned city lot, the river bank, the city park, or the overgrown fence row can provide an amazing amount of natural, nutritional, food sources. In fact there are many urban wild edibles. I'm sure that, everyday, hungry people walk unaware past untapped sources of naturally occurring nutrition in their quest for nourishment.

A plate of Wehani rice, with sauteed dandelion greens.

Let's begin with an edible plant that can be found in the majority of cities in the U. S.. Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) are considered the bane of many lawn owners. It is possible to make money from home owners in exchange for removing the dandelions.


Every part of the dandelion is edible. The roots can be boiled and stir fried like other vegetables. It can also be roasted and used as a coffee substitute.


The leaves can be boiled in salt water like spinach. Eaten raw on sandwiches or in salads for a green with stronger taste.


The flowers can be stir fried as a vegetable. They have long been used to make dandelion wine.


Here is a video with the recently deceased Frank Cook, a man very connected to nature and an immense repository of plant knowledge, of Plantsandhealers.com discussing the dandelion.



We will continue this topic in later posts.

Urban Farms or Survival in the City

One of the easiest ways to reduce your cost of living is to start producing the things you consider necessities yourself. Even in urban settings there are things that can be done to reduce ones reliance on the system. From growing your own vegetables and spices, soap making, beer brewing, sewing, to making your own fuel for your transportation, many things you pay cash for can be made at home.


Here is an example, from ABC's Nightline, being set by a suburban family, the Dervaes, in Pasadena CA.





Check out the Dervaes website on urban homesteading. It has lots of tips and ideas for those on the road to self sufficiency.


Urban homesteading is not new, it was, in the early part of the twentieth century, the norm rather than the exception. As a youngster in the early 70's I sat at a table where everything on the table came from the yard that was in the city limits on less than a quarter acre of land. There was a shed with a stall for the milk cow and rabbit hutches and a chicken coup on the northwest corner of the lot. The southwest corner of the lot contained the house and a small front yard with a couple fruit trees. The eastern side of the lot was all garden with all the vegetables and spices that were familiar to a Midwestern boy, and a few that weren't.


First, through ordinances designed to "improve" community life, legislation forced removal of the milk cow, later the chickens had to go. By the 80's the city had remade the community into a place that required a greater reliance on processed foods, most times transported hundreds if not thousands of miles. Many cities have successfully propagandized it's citizenry to the point that should one get a couple chickens, or want a milk cow, there are immediately complaint calls from concerned neighbors to the proper authorities.


During the great depression many families helped feed themselves and made few extra dollars by selling eggs, milk, and fresh vegetables from these urban farms. The current economic crises doesn't offer many that option due to rigid zoning laws and their enforcement. It is, however, a good time to try to counter these ridiculous infringements on personal freedom and the rights of self sustenance. Economic hardship, combined with the growing public awareness of environmental impacts and the green movement make this a good time to reverse some of this community legislation.



There are urban farms spring up like mad all across the country some are facing these bureaucratic obstacles head on. Check out:

Bad Seed Farm in Kansas City Brings Urban Farming to the Next Level