Wild/Feral food is common sense---free, abundant, and packed with nutrition!
Reasons we wildcraft
It starts in the most basic way, on a sensual level. The sights, sounds, tastes, and textures involved in preparing a wildcrafted meal are a viscerally enlivening parade of pleasures.
The flavors are bold, distinctive, and specific to right here; appearing in a seasonal procession of just what our bodies desire.
The cleansing spring greens and bitters coax my digestive system, helping me shake off winter fog.
The rich nutritive greens Lamb's Quarters and Amaranth I subsist on in summer enthusiastically populate my garden beds. Eating them daily restores my skin, brightens my hair, and builds my bones.
Purslane, the juicy one that creeps over cultivated patches, cools and soothes a parched summer body, quenching my thirst and nourishing my brain with healthy fats.
Then there are the berries who pop and laugh on trails like cheerleaders. When I see a bush laden with berries I can't help but be struck by the thrill of having eyes, a mouth, and a belly.
It starts in the most basic way, on a sensual level. The sights, sounds, tastes, and textures involved in preparing a wildcrafted meal are a viscerally enlivening parade of pleasures.
The flavors are bold, distinctive, and specific to right here; appearing in a seasonal procession of just what our bodies desire.
The cleansing spring greens and bitters coax my digestive system, helping me shake off winter fog.
The rich nutritive greens Lamb's Quarters and Amaranth I subsist on in summer enthusiastically populate my garden beds. Eating them daily restores my skin, brightens my hair, and builds my bones.
Purslane, the juicy one that creeps over cultivated patches, cools and soothes a parched summer body, quenching my thirst and nourishing my brain with healthy fats.
Then there are the berries who pop and laugh on trails like cheerleaders. When I see a bush laden with berries I can't help but be struck by the thrill of having eyes, a mouth, and a belly.
The fruits of late summer and fall grow in size and caloric value---grapes, apples, pears, plums, and fungi---pleasing my food storage focused inner squirrel.
Rich nuts shower our yards and sidewalks with protein and fat just before the fire-worthy weather takes us by surprise. It's a deep comfort seeing acorns and black walnuts piling up under the tree canopies, inspiring dreams of satisfying hot cakes and nut speckled shortbread.
The roots and tubers we dig in late fall, sweetened with frost, add bulk to my meals and insulation to my body.
Eating foods from the lands we inhabit creates a direct bond with place---the minerals in the soil become the basis of our bones, hair and teeth.
Simply the experience of opening our hearts to other creatures whilst gathering or tending and connecting with the seasons helps us remember our place, in relation with and amongst.
Rich nuts shower our yards and sidewalks with protein and fat just before the fire-worthy weather takes us by surprise. It's a deep comfort seeing acorns and black walnuts piling up under the tree canopies, inspiring dreams of satisfying hot cakes and nut speckled shortbread.
The roots and tubers we dig in late fall, sweetened with frost, add bulk to my meals and insulation to my body.
Eating foods from the lands we inhabit creates a direct bond with place---the minerals in the soil become the basis of our bones, hair and teeth.
Simply the experience of opening our hearts to other creatures whilst gathering or tending and connecting with the seasons helps us remember our place, in relation with and amongst.
The efforts of hunting, tending, harvesting, processing, prepping, and cooking
all coupled with the sacrifice of each life pruned or taken for dinner leaves me awash in the sheer grace of it all.
We are because they are.
Plants are our ancestors, our extended family, and our dedicated caretakers.
all coupled with the sacrifice of each life pruned or taken for dinner leaves me awash in the sheer grace of it all.
We are because they are.
Plants are our ancestors, our extended family, and our dedicated caretakers.
We promote the mindful harvest of resilient, nutritionally generous plant species growing prolifically in human tended, disturbed, or overgrown spaces. We turn to these plants to meet some of our needs locally, for little cost and a steep nutritional pay off.
We understand that a level of cultivation is necessary for continued abundant harvest. As we gather, we tend to wild/feral plants as gardeners--carefully, respectfully, and in concert with propagative practices.
There are many examples throughout human history of our food acquisition practices increasing biodiversity and habitat for other species. By meeting the needs of the ecosystem as we meet ours, we nurture and rekindle a stewardship ethic of reciprocity and engagement, ensuring a supply of nutritive feral foods for the future generations of all species.
