Poke sallet, Phytolacca Americana, a weed that is both feared and loved by many Southerners, was the first wild green I learned harvest. I had been hunting mushrooms for years, and had always wanted to forage for edible plants as well, but I was hesitant to learn without the help of an experienced picker. Well, In the south,... Continue Reading →
Foraging for wild foods is a way to be more connected with our beautiful planet and the source of our foods. It is probably fair to say that most foragers are health-conscious, organic-minded and somewhat "crunchy." I definitely am. I buy organic whenever possible, stock our freezer with wild game or locally grown meat and... Continue Reading →
Fresh rolls are a great way to enjoy the varying colors, textures and flavors of edible Spring wildflowers and wild greens. They can be filled with many different assortments of foraged foods. For this batch the forest provided dandelion flowers, sweet violets, redbud blossoms, chickweed, dead nettle, wild garlic greens and oxalis. Of all the flowers in these... Continue Reading →
In early Spring most brown lawns and fields in the Southeast are littered with bright green bunches of wild Allium. We refer to them all as wild onions, but most are in fact wild garlic; Allium vineale. There are many types of onions and garlic growing in the wild, but wild garlic is the common... Continue Reading →
For many years I wanted to learn about wild foods and mushroom hunting but I didn't know anyone else in Alabama with an interest in foraging. Then I met my love, a man from the Pacific Northwest that had relocated far from his native soggy habitat to the deep south. I never even... Continue Reading →
If you are lucky enough to have a pile of freshly foraged morels sitting in your kitchen, this is the perfect recipe for you. If you don't have fresh wild mushrooms and chickweed, you can use readily available ingredients (such as store bought crimini or shitaki and spinach) for this recipe, and still end... Continue Reading →
A few days ago, I was out attempting to jog and found the first morels of the season. We had been hiking and checking the same woods for several weeks and had not found any, but I felt pretty confident that there would be a small patch to pick near where we found late morels last year. So,... Continue Reading →
Chickweed is the star of, and reason for, this salad. The bittercress plays a supporting role as it just happened to be growing through a patch of Chickweed in my yard. The flavors of the two greens compliment each other beautifully. Finding them together was like foraging a ready-made salad mix. These two greens together... Continue Reading →
"Dinner" is a bit of an exaggeration. More like chickweed side salad to go with a dinner that I had hoped would include fresh Morels. It was my first time picking or eating chickweed so it is still fun and exciting enough for me to write about. I have always wanted to learn more about... Continue Reading →
Digging Food 