Do prickly tumbleweeds pile on your house or nearby fence lines? If so, dinner may be close by. Before the spines firm up, you can boil the green shoots and tender branch tips of the developing plants for a mild, spinach-like green. Our prickly tumbleweeds belong to plants … [Read more...]
Recipe: Creamy nettle soup
This stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) soup is quick, easy to make, and full of flavor. A lot of nettle soups are made with potato but I think the nettle flavor is more noticeable without, so I use cauliflower for the creamy consistency instead. The recipe is vegan, oil-free, … [Read more...]
Healthy vegan dandelion soup
This is a healthy vegan version of my favorite dandelion soup. Called manest, it is an Italian soup traditionally made with bitter greens, vegetables, sausage, and cheese. I learned it from my father-in-law's late wife Carol, whose grandparents gathered dandelion greens in … [Read more...]
Wild seed drink
This gorgeous wild seed drink is one of the best things I’ve made in a while! I used the seeds of peppergrass, a wild mustard you wouldn't think you could enjoy like chia seeds. But you can! There are many species of peppergrass (Lepidum spp.), both native and non-native. I … [Read more...]
The delicious ‘wild wonderberry’
I am just back from the Midwest Wild Harvest Festival, where a big bowl of black nightshade berries (Solanum nigrum complex) dressed the banquet table at Friday’s annual wild potluck. Foragers there are well-versed in the edibility of these diminutive wild treats, which are in … [Read more...]