Did you know that hosta—the large-leaved and oft variegated landscaping plant that the deer love so much—is edible? I had no idea until I picked up Ellen Zachos’ book, Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn’t Know You Could Eat (Storey Publishing, 2013). Go figure. The … [Read more...]
Leaves of three, strawberry!
I bolted upright at 2 a.m., awakened by loud, forceful hail pounding down on the roof. It was June 28, just a week into summer. I got up and walked across the dark living room to peek out the sliding glass doors. Despite the cold, hard nature of those icy pellets, the hail meant … [Read more...]
Cattail heart & tomato salads
The renowned forager and writer Euell Gibbons called cattails “the supermarket of the swamps,” and from that moniker other nicknames have emerged, among them “the Walmart of the swamps.” Although evoking Walmart doesn’t help me to connect with my joy for wild plants, the … [Read more...]
Black birch experiment
It’s now a week into this month’s wild recipe challenge at Hunger & Thirst for Life, and can I just say, I’ve been out of it for eight months and all of a sudden, this game has gotten way harder. This month, Wild Things is a “Tree Party,” which, despite the fact that it … [Read more...]
New England Foraging Adventure – Part III
If I don’t get the rest of this New England story out soon I’ll be permanently stopped up in the blog-hole, though perhaps it’s something a large dose of chickweed (Stellaria sp.) could solve. I already wrote about chickweed in Part I of this series, I know, but I just read an … [Read more...]
