April Foraging!

In this newsletter you’ll find suggestions for foraging and nature connection practices this time of year (including a recipe for biting back at an aggressive invasive in the tastiest way), upcoming Foraging Home events (including a new offering I am SO EXCITED ABOUT), and a few seasonal special treats for sale.

Have you been noticing just a little (or a lot!) more color in the living world around you this month? We are at the tail end of the Pink Moon season (so named for the pastel pinks and lavenders of native phlox blooming now), and moving into the Flower moon soon… and some days the world outside my windows seems to be glowing with green and pink!

After what felt like decades (but was actually just January and February…) of waiting, the season of growth and blooming often seems to explode all at once, taking off faster than I can keep up with - for harvesting and processing wild foods, keeping up with my wild yard, and taming the urges of my wild heart to be outside enjoying every second of the too-good-to-be-true warmth and beauty of this season. Does anybody else get overwhelmed by wanting to savor every second of spring after a long cold season indoors?

This month, we are practicing finding our pacing to be sure we can prioritize what matters most to us in a world that often seems to be moving much too fast. In our home, that’s spending as many days in the woods, surrounded by larkspur and ramps, and the salamanders and snails coming out to thank the rains. It means finding all the ways we can to stay connected to the real real world even we are pulled in a thousand disconnected directions every day.

However you are spending your days, we all function so much better (and are so much happier) when we practice noticing and being present. And that is one of the gifts of foraging! By keeping an eye out for my favorite wild foods and medicines coming into season, I am noticing so much of the magic of life unfolding around me, as well as making sure I find the time to get outside and enjoy it. If you want black locust blossoms to enjoy throughout the year, you have a tiny window of time to get outside and gather them before they are gone. No more putting off burying your face in fragrant blossoms! Make time for feeling your feet on the earth, taking a walk in the rain, eating berries straight off the bush, no hands! Don’t you always feel better about so many parts of life after you gift yourself time for these things?

If you want to prioritize these joys and connection moments, to practice noticing and presence in tune with the seasons, and to join community of others who are seeking the same, check out the new Wild Community Walks - they start in less than a week, and spaces are limited, so be sure to sign up soon!

Upcoming Events

I am SO excited to be opening the doors to a new offering- Wild Community Walks.

I deeply believe that being in nature is healing, that feeling our connection to the living world that we cannot exist without is vital to heal our current world, and that if you want to learn wild food and medicine the best way is to get outside as often as possible and meet all the wild things throughout the seasons. And I have been dreaming of a way to make all of that more accessible to everyone for years.

With the Wild Community Walks, my hope is that folks interested in pursuing any of these things will have an affordable way to find community around it. Join for a day here and there ($25/ea), or dive into wild food and connection with a series of four or more classes ($15/ea).

I will be leading weekly walks for small groups where we will spend time grounding in nature and getting to know our more-than-human neighbors. Each week will be unique: we may forage mushrooms or gather plants for food or medicine, spend time up close with the moss and forest critters, make tea from seasonal woodland plants, or explore different ways to safely begin (or deepen our practice of) incorporating wild food and medicine into your life. 

If you have wanted to explore wild food & medicine or learning about our ecosystems more, to make a practice of spending more time outside, or to meet other nature-loving-and-curious folks,

Starting in May, you can find our wild things in the city! Ginny Lou’s in downtown Marshall will be opening with gardening and kitchen supplies, a sweet little tea bar, and featuring lots of herbal goodies like ours.

Come check out the brand new shop and celebrate the grand “reopening” of Marshall since Helene on May 1-4 for “Marshall Magic Days!” You can support local businesses who were deeply affected by the flooding, enjoy music, art, food & drink… and on Sunday we will be there slinging some special foraged mocktails!

Japanese Knotweed

But unfortunately, it is also one that was brought out of its intended habitat and now is causing all sorts of problems with its aggressive growth in our area.

So let’s eat as much of it as we can!

(Ok, in all seriousness Knotweed is really hard to remove and quickly outcompetes so many of our native plants, it really is negatively impacting our biodiverse region and please don’t EVER plant it - and be careful not to spread it by throwing scraps in your yard or compost. And we will never be rid of it. But I’m a believer in every little bit helps, so if you can pull some from the wild and feed yourself at the same time, win-win!)

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Japanese Knotweed Jelly and Fruit Leather

Young knotweed shoots, leaves removed
Lemon juice
Strawberries, Blueberries
Pectin
Sugar

• Collect as many young knotweed shoots as you can! Break them off where they are still tender enough to snap, and then ideally pull out the roots and throw them in the trash (or give them to your friendly local herbalist for medicine-making).

• Remove leaves from stalks and dispose of in trash. Chop stalks into ~1in sections.

• Place in a large pot and cover with water. Cook down until the stalks are mushy and grossly green and the water is pink!

  • Berries: you can add fruit like strawberries or blueberries to this first mix, or to the jelly or fruit leather after you separate them. Just note that before making jelly you want to strain it down to a translucent liquid, and for the leather you want all “pulp”

• Remove from heat and add lemon juice- roughly 1T for every 4 cups of knotweed mix.

• Separate liquids and solids. The liquid will become jelly, and the solids fruit leather!

  • For jelly: measure your translucent pink liquid and follow instructions on pectin box

  • For fruit leather: puree wet solids with immersion or regular blender (careful if it’s hot!) then reheat to dissolve sugar into the mixture. The amount of sugar is entirely up to your taste- if you add berries or other fruit, you may find it is sweet enough without any. Just add until you like the taste! Then spread on silicone or other dehydrator drying sheets to dry to a sticky leather. Enjoy!

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As always, make sure you are 100% sure about ID, safety, and sustainable harvesting practices before gathering or consuming any wild plants & fungi. 

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Lilac Sugar & Spring Greens Vinegar

Can you catch more flies with sugar or vinegar? Hard to say, so let’s try both!

We have a freshly picked and infused batch of dizzyingly delicious Lilac Sugar, perfect for sprinkling in your tea or coffee, atop baked goods, or straight into your mouth.

Also fresh from the wild, a vinegar steeped with the best mineral-rich super greens of spring. Great for cooking, homemade salad dressings, or taken as a tonic to support liver, kidney, digestive, and lymphatic functioning.

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