Foraging - Blog Posts

Purslane (portulaca oleracea)

This plant is generally considered a “weed” even though it is a superfood with many health benefits, and you probably have some growing near your home.

Purslane has some of the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids of any foods on the planet, and also contains vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and antioxidants.

The entire plant is edible, and has a lemony/peppery taste.

Magickal Properties:

Element: Water

Planet: Moon

Feminine

Correspondence: love, luck, protection, happiness, sleep

Place under pillow/near bed to ward off nightmares

Carry with you to attract luck and love and to protect against evil/negative energy

Grow in your home to bring happiness and protection to it

Culinary Uses:

Add to salad, or eat by itself as a salad

Add to salsa

Add to scrambled eggs or omelets

Purslane pesto

Brew into tea

Sauté in oil of your choice

Happy Foraging!

not one chanterelle this season.. drought :(

I’ve come to the conclusion that in most places, it isn’t normal to pick and eat wild berries you find…..ya’ll telling me you didn’t grow up eating wild raspberries and blueberries while walking through the forest or camping?

I feel bad for ya’ll, my family would harvest the wild berries near my house all the time when I was a kid, they were delicious! Some of my core memories are keeping an eye out for raspberries and blueberries while hiking or pretty much any time I was anywhere near the forest, it was pretty common knowledge where I grew up what we could and couldn’t eat in the forest. And it was just normal to wander off the trail slightly if you see some wild berries, and to have semi extensive knowledge on the flora.

Photography by Paulette Phlipot and Rebecca Vanderhorst

THESE ARE MY FAVORITE!! I LOVE ACORN WEEVIL S!!!

Found today while gathering acorns (swamp white oak). How adorable is this? I love her little feet, and the way she pivots around her proboscis, fascinated by how far her head rotates… Curculio sp. (if anyone can ID to species, please add!)

THE OLD FRIENDSHIP OF BLUEBERRIES AND SWEET FERN:

"In the time before refrigeration, Ojibwe folks kept their blueberry harvest fresh by lining their birchbark storage containers with a plant called sweet fern that often grows right alongside blueberry bushes!

The leaves of sweet fern produce a compound called gallic acid, which is a potent anti-microbial and keeps harmful bacteria like salmonella from growing on the berries.

It's name in the Ojibwe dialect I've learned is "giba`iganiminzh" meaning "it covers the berries" because of this usage and its contribution to keeping the precious staple food of minan (blueberries) fresh!

I don't use a birchbark container but I do pop a few sprigs of sweet fern into my gathering bag when out picking and then into my tupperware when storing berries to remember and utilize the gifts of this wonderful plant!

(Sweet fern can also be used as a medicinal tea to help the intestines and colon! And when added to a fire, the smoke will help keep away mosquitos and horse flies--in addition to smelling lovely!)" - The Native Nations Museum, founded by Chippewa Bonnie Jones

I learned that the fruit of the [mesquite] tree was one of many in our landscape that had evolved to be eaten by the giant mammals who disappeared from this continent not long after humans showed up, one of those factual nuggets that punctuate a truth about the deep history of the Anthropocene in ways reading alone cannot. […] [W]e will soon need to learn not to take for granted things like the wild food that goes uneaten due to the absence of the animals whose extinction our dominion coincided with.

I wonder what kind of cake we will make, if we have to make it from the fruit of the old tree that grew up in the brownfield.

Christopher Brown, A Natural History of Vacant Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places (2024)

made a lil infographic thing for a spore print i did recently! my first amanita muscaria so i feel like it deserved a proper tribute

Making some seiðr/hedgeriding glycerite today. I love bearberry so much.

Seidr / Hedgeriding Tincture:

Bearberry - 90%

And:

Cedar

Wild rose petals & hips

Saskatoons

Burdock root

Elder flowers & berries

Horsetail

Rowan

Steep for a day or two in the fridge after tea is cooled.

Glycerin 60%

Tea 40%

I just finished playing Wytchwood and now I feel like my life doesn't make sense

i hate that concerns about urban gardening/foraging safety is often met with "What are you, a cop?" scorn. I believe it's a suspicion of anything that hinders the punk/anti-system urgency to jump in immediately and do whatever feels right.

Safety, ethics, and sustainability are all a part of urban gardening and foraging. I'm sorry that means you need to do homework before you can do anything, I know that sounds lame. But life is complicated.

I know anti-intellectualism is viewed as activist these days, but like, surely you don't want to literally eat lead, right?

Day 29 (Baking) and Day 30 (Foraging)

💐Nasturtium notebooks💐 The first one has arrived and I am very happy with how it turned out😊 The cover is nice and soft while keeping the illustrations sharp and saturated ✨ not sure what I'll write in it but I'm very excited! I hope you'll enjoy it too💚

Its listed on Shopify now too :) All the info is in the item description.

Find it here: https://lunalinstudio.myshopify.com/

Size: 5"x5.25" Inside: first page has a spot to put your name Paper: 48 gridded pages, 70lb acid free paper so it's perfect for journaling, planning, sketching, note taking, etc.

Some nasturtium love for the summer months✨❤️ these flowers are delicious! The blossoms are slightly sweet and peppery while the leaves and stems are a bit spicy :) my favorite toast and salad ingredient ✨ .

Laetiporus sulphureus

Nom nom nom #autumn🍁 #foraging #shropshirehills #berries

JÍDLO Z LESA

část první

v biu mám, že jsem aspirující sběrač, tak abych se do toho pustila…

Vědět, co se v lese dá jíst a co ne, se v dnešní době nejeví jako zvlášť důležitá vědomost.

Avšak její důležitost spočívá v našem vztahu k přírodě. Ztráta vědomostí o naší krajině je jednou s příčin, proč si lidé přírody neváží…

Takže pro ty, které by to zajímalo, zde je seznam několik méně známých jedlých druhů a jak je spolehlivě poznat:

1. PTAČINEC PROSTŘEDNÍ

- jedná se o nízkou plazivou rostlinu s listy s nerušeným okrajem. Má malé bílé kvítky

- je to plevel, takže ho nejspíš najdete na zahradě, ale nejlépe roste ve stinných vlhkých místech

- má chuť podobnou čerstvému špenátu, ideální do salátů, rostlina se dá jíst celá (teda kořínky vám asi chutnat nebudou)

2. PTAČINEC VELKOKVĚTÝ

- tato rostlina je na rozdíl od předešlého ptačince vzpřímená a roste hlavně v lese

- poznáme ji podle bílých květů a úzkých dlouhých listů v křižmostojném postavení (2 listy stojí vedle sebe a 2 listy nad nimi stojí otočeny o 90 stupňů oproti těm pod nimi - takže rostlina vypadá jako kříž ze zhora)

- jedlé jsou jarní vrcholové výhonky světle zelené barvy a hráškové chuti (později do jara a v létě jsou už listy moc tuhé a drsné)

3. ČESNÁČEK LÉKAŘSKÝ

- středně vysoká rostlina, rostoucí ve stínu či polostínu lesa

- poznáme ji podle tvaru listů, které jsou zubaté a na bázi srdčité (představte si lípu), důležitá je také jemná česneková vůně (pokud není patrná rozemněte list)

- jedlé jsou listy s mírně hořkou a česnekovou chutí

- pokud vám něco chutnat nebude nejezte to, chuť máme proto abychom poznali, co se jíst dá a co ne

Na závěr se loučím s překladem rozloučení mé oblíbené sběračky z Ohia (@blackforager) “Happy snacking, don’t die”

Dobré chutnání, bez umírání