Dusting off the Foraging Habit

I'm a forager from way back. When I was three, my Mom would take me up the mountain near our house to pick blueberries and gather mushrooms. She's German, my Mom, and the Germans have a long history of foraging for wild edibles... and medicinals.

We'd also go pick St. John's Wort, horsetail, club moss pollen, plantain and a variety of other herbals. Have a wound that won't heal? Just dust on some club moss pollen. Works like a charm.

There was even one year where we went out in the early spring, after the snow had melted and gathered moose poop.

Yup... moose poop.

We had a young apple tree that was not doing much except producing leaves. Mom had read that horse manure would be good, although you have to watch it because it can be too "hot". Not having access to a horse... or horse poop, Mom gave figured moose poop would be a good substitute.

Up in the north... in the spring... you see moose poop piles everyone. They're not like murky cow patties... they're more like rabbit poop... except way bigger. Little nuggets of fertilizing goodness...

The deer trail to the stinging nettles

So we went out with our plastic bags and gloves and scooped moose poop. Came home and distributed it around the apple tree and... let me tell you... that tree went from zero apples to 60 apples in one year. Best thing... moose poop.

Anyhow... I digress. There are no moose poops down here and deer poops are a bit too small to scoop. But... my foraging instinct is still strong.

A few years ago, while exploring a deer trail off the beaten path, I came across a patch of stinging nettles. Ooohhh... good stuff!!! I mean, they hurt like heck if you touch them accidentally. Although, apparently people touch them on purpose because the sting helps arthritis. I haven't tried that, not suffering from arthritis. But... I have been stung accidentally and the tingly feeling lasts for hours (sometimes overnight).

Stinging nettles

As I learned from my mother, stinging nettles are a great edible... like, super great. Packed with vitamins, minerals, and other goodness that act as anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories. And it is a leafy green... a dark green leafy green.

On our revised eating plan, we are supposed to eat two cups of leafy greens a day. Most of those greens come from the store where we buy bags of mixed leafy greens.

Until last week, when the store ran out of the pre-packaged stuff... so I bought bunches of kale and spinach and we made our own, slightly less diverse mix.

We are still waiting for our mesclun to grow up enough to begin harvesting it... so we are at bit the mercy of the greens available in the stores...

Foraged nettles

But then I thought... It's spring and... my nettle patch should be ready!

I did a little excursion on the weekend and... it was in super fine form. I picked three bags full and only got a few stings for my efforts.

**Note to self, garden gloves do NOT work if they only have fabric covering the back of the hands...

Took the nettles home, blanched them, chopped them and froze them. We can use them in all sorts of recipes calling for dark leafy greens... like the quesadillas we made a few days ago which needed five cups of kale or swiss chard...

I should perhaps mention that blanching the nettles disarms the whole stinging thing... Just blanch in boiling water for a couple of minutes and they are good to go. They are still a bit furrier than spinach but... they are also organic! And... to top it off... the blanching water makes great soup stock.

My next big foraging expedition will come later in the summer when the blackberries appear... they too have defenses to guard them (wicked thorns) but our goal is to stock our freezer with bags and bags of blackberries to tide us through the winter. And maybe produce a few litres of blackberry liqueur... mmmm.... soooo good.