Edible Invasives

What, exactly, is an ‘invasive’ plant?

According the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources,  “When non-native plants, animals, or pathogens rapidly takes over a new location and alter the ecosystem, we consider them invasive species.”

There is a lot of Concern and Kerfuffle around Invasive plants, maybe it’s warranted and maybe it’s not – That’ll be the topic of another blog post in the future.  In the meantime, here is a list of common plants that are considered Invasive in Wisconsin, and happen to be edible.

Click on the links for more information about each plant. Enjoy!

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

Watercress (Nasturtium officianale)

‘Wild’ Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)

Dame’s Rocket (Hesperis matronalis)

Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora)

White Sweet Clover (Melilotus albus)

Canada Thistle(Cirsium arvense)

If you are curious to learn more, here is a link to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Invasive Plant information.

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Rare and Endangered Plants Need Our Help

Ramps/Wild Leek

One thing I talk about constantly on the subject of foraging is the need to pay attention to how plants grow so that we can harvest them in a way that keeps them healthy, vital and thriving. To me, it just makes sense – once I find a nice patch of Wild Leeks, I’d like to be able to go back year after year to pick some leaves and bulbs, right? It’s simple enough to honor and respect that Beautiful Being by taking a leaf from each plant so that it can flourish and fulfill it’s role in the ecosystem.

Weirdly enough, not everyone thinks that way.

Believe it or not, there are people who will strip an entire area of wild leeks, digging up all of the bulbs and not leaving any behind to thrive and grow. Some do this for their own personal stock, and some do it for the money they make by selling them. Either way, I just don’t understand it – why oh, why wouldn’t you want a steady supply that you could keep coming back to?! And the total disregard for the role these plants have in the ecosystem is staggering. It makes me sad, and it makes me all the more determined to keep talking, keep teaching, keep doing everything I can to spark the Wonder and Curiosity in others that will lead to a deep connection to Nature.

Echinacea Flower

I’ve recently become a member of United Plant Savers, an organization whose mission is to “protect native medicinal plants of the United States and Canada and their native habitat while ensuring an abundant renewable supply of medicinal plants for generations to come.” Isn’t that a lovely mission?? I encourage you to explore their website and see if it’s a good fit for you, too.

Wisconsin Rare Plant Monitoring program is another great organization, dedicated to preserve rare flora in our own beautiful state. I recently signed up to be a volunteer, and I look forward to being an advocate for plants in need of some loving attention. Again, I encourage you to explore this organization and see if it’s a good fit for you.

Other things you can do to help plants in need:

• Look at the list of rare and endagered plants, and cultivate a few of them in your garden.
• Even if you don’t become an official volunteer for the WI Rare Plant Monitoring Program, you can still conduct a survey for a particular rare plant (if you happen to know how to identify it) and submit data online.
• When you are harvesting wild edible and medicinal plants, pay deep attention to how you are harvesting, and keep the health of the plant a priority.
• Share the information you know with your like-minded friends. For instance, you might know what the endangered Bloodroot looks like, so when you are hiking with your friends and family, you can point out this lovely plant and share it’s plight with others.
• Keep learning, keep growing, keep sharing. 🙂

Beautiful Bloodroot

Pickled vs Fermented

When I teach fermentation classes, invariably someone will ask me what the difference is between Picking and Fermenting. This will be a super short post to explain the difference, just for funsies.

FERMENTATION

When we ferment our foods, we are adding or creating a salt brine to our container of veggies in order to favor lactic-acid producing bacteria while holding back putrifying bacteria. Lacto-fermentation is a great way to preserve foods, AND they contain probiotic bacteria which are necessary for healthy gut function, immune function and brain health.

PICKLING

When you ‘pickle’ something, you are adding a vinegar solution for the purpose of preserving. In pickled foods, there are no probiotic bacteria….but vinegar is a PRE-biotic, which is something that the probiotic bacteria feed on, so it’s still good for you.

I use both methods to preserve wild foods that I harvest. Some things I like better fermented, and some I like better pickled. Here are links to a couple recipes you might enjoy:

Pickled Fiddleheads

Fermented Cattail Shoots

Experiment and enjoy!!

Foraging on Public Lands

A friend recently asked me to write a blog about the rules around foraging in public places.  What a great idea! Since most of my foraging happens in Polk County, WI, that’s where my focus will be for this post. 

When I think about “Public Land”, I think of 4 categories: Federal, State, County, and Municipal.  Each category has slightly different rules about foraging, so let’s break it down.

Federal Land:

In Polk County, we have the National Park Service area along the St Croix River, and various tracts of US Fish and Wildlife areas south of Highway 8.  Perhaps there are other Federal Lands too, these are the ones I’m aware of.

Here is a link that outlines specific rules about activities on National Park Service land along the River, including foraging: “Visitors are allowed to harvest and eat berries and mushrooms in the Park, but collecting freshwater mussels, mussel shells or wildflowers is prohibited.”

US Fish and Wildlife Service areas allow berry and mushroom collection for personal use.   This link has a list of these areas in Polk County.

State Land:

In a State park, Forest, Natural Area or Trail in Wisconsin we can pick edible fruits, edible nuts, wild mushrooms, wild asparagus and watercress for personal consumption.  I will add that we can pick edible invasive plants as well – things like garlic mustard, feral parsnip, and hybrid cattail.
This link has a list of state lands in Polk County.

County Land:

Polk County Parks, Trails and Forests have pretty much the same foraging rules as State Lands, above. There are presently no policies written down, but the kind county forester that I spoke with said that respectful harvesting of wild edibles for personal consumption would be considered legal.

This link has a list of Polk County parks and trails.  You’ll notice some of these are also in the State Land list – that’s because some parks and trails are jointly owned/managed by DNR and the county. 

Municipal

I debated about calling up all of the Polk County villages and cities to see what they had to say………but I got lazy and didn’t, lol!  My advice here is to call your local village/city office and ask if it’s alright to pick mushrooms and wild edible plants from the parks in town, and then also ask if herbicides/pesticides are used in any of the parks as well.  I imagine each village or city will have different rules. 

So there you have it. Go forth and forage, my friends.

My Favorite Foraging Blogs and Websites

In no particular order, here are the websites I love to go to for information and inspiration. You can click on the titles to go see each one for yourself. Enjoy!

A fellow forager at her favorite site.

Foraging and Feasting
What I like most about this website and blog are the beautiful botanical drawings.

Herbcraft
This is the work of Jim McDonald, a Michigan Herbalist. I love the humor and human-ness he brings to his excellent writing about all things herb-y.

Learning Herbs
Rosalee de la Forêt writes prolifically about Food as Medicine, and publishes great recipes.

Eat the Weeds
Green Dean lives in Florida, and surprisingly a LOT of the plants he writes about are here in Wisconsin, too.

Learn Your Land
Adam Haritan lives in Western Pennsylvania, another area that has many plants that are also found in Wisconsin.  He produces great videos with tons of super good information about wild edibles and mushrooms.  I had a great opportunity to meet him this summer when he was traveling in Wisconsin, and I can say that he is every bit as animated and kind in person as he is in his videos.

Forager’s Harvest
Sam Thayer is a Wisconsin native who is an avid Forager and Teacher.  He and his wife Melissa have a store in Bruce, Wisconsin, right on Highway 8.  They hold classes there and other places as well. 

Forager Chef
Alan Bergo is a Minneapolis based chef who specializes in using wild foods in his menu.  I had to fun opportunity to take a class with him this fall, he is thoroughly entertaining and knowledgeable. 

Edible Wild Food
Karen Stephenson lives in Canada and writes a great blog with tons of plant information and recipes.

Grow Forage Cook Ferment
Colleen Codekas lives in Southern Oregon and has a beautiful website packed with loads of rich information about living close to the land. 

Elderberry Syrup Time

It’s Elderberry Syrup time! It’s been cold outside for many weeks now, and we’ve been indoors, mingling with family and friends, viruses and bacteria, so now is the time to boost up that immune system to ward off The Crud.

I LOVE taking those berries out of the freezer and inhaling the scent of summer when there is snow and ice outside.  As I pour them into the kettle and simmer them with a bit of water, I think about the days I harvested them.  One time was at a friend’s house – he had an enormous bush, heavy with berries that he wasn’t going to use this year.  I picked over 10 pounds in a short while that day!  And I made sure to gift him with some syrup.  😊

Another time I noticed a little shrub growing alongside theroad not far from my house….I’d never seen it there before.  It was little, but there were lots of berries on it, and I actually got to them before the birds ate them all. 

The fondest memory from this summer, though, is when I picked Elderflowers and then, later, Elderberries with some Good Friends.  (You know who you are.  😊 )   I know that these warm memories fuel the healing energy in the syrup simmering away on my stove. 

My recipe for Elderberry is SUPER simple.  Equal amounts of frozen berries and water – I usually make it in batches with 2 cups of berries, 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer for 30 minutes or so.  Let it cool a bit, strain out the berries (give ‘em a squeeze so you get as much juice as you can), add honey to taste. That’s it.  It’ll keep in the fridge for a few weeks…..but we use it every day, so it never lasts that long.  If you wanted to keep it longer, just add some brandy. 

Here are links to other Elderberry Syrup recipes you might enjoy, too.  

Mountain Rose Herbs  

Learning Herbs

Stay well, friends. 

Wintergreen

Wintergreen is a tiny, low-growing plant which, as its name suggests, stays green all winter.  This is a lovely plant to harvest in the winter, as those shiny green leaves and beautiful little red berries show up really well against a dusting of snow.  I often find them under pine trees, so even if there is heavy snow cover, there tends to be less snow underneath pines, so I can still see that punch of color. 

It’s tough to get enough berries to do anything with because I cannot resist eating them as I pick – they are deliciously minty!  The leaves are strongly minty, too, and make a wonderful tea.  I find it interesting that this plant is NOT in the mint family – it is in the same family as blueberries and cranberries.   I’ve got a tincture made with the berries and leaves that I’m going to try using in some baking this winter.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  

Wintergreen often grows alongside and intermixed with Partridgeberry, and they are similar looking.  In the picture below, you can see how the Partridgeberry leaves are smaller and rounder.  The berry is more orange than red, and if you look close, you can see how the berry has two little depressions that makes it look like it has eyes.  While Partridgeberries are edible, you’ll probably be disappointed like I was when I first ate them – they are tasteless.  Not bitter, not sweet, not anything.  Oh well, they are pretty.  

In the very top left corner of this photo, you can see Wintergreen’s larger leaf photo-bombing this Partridgeberry shot.   Oh, Wintergreen, I’ve got my eye on you!

Five Fun Facts About Chaga

1. Chaga is not a mushroom, though it is often included in mushroom books and referred to as Chaga Mushroom.  Rather, it is a hardened mass of mycelium (the underlayer of growth that produces mushrooms).  The proper term for this hardened mass is Sclerocium, and the plural is Sclerocia.  See, that’s fun to say, isn’t it?
2. Chaga grows exclusively on Birch trees.  Other trees have similar looking growths, and mostly those are Burls.  Burls are an abnormal growth that is covered by bark, often caused by an injury or a virus.  Chaga starts growing in the heart wood of the tree, and slowly pushes its way out through the bark.
3. Chaga is medicinal.  It has been used medicinally for many years, and like many folk medicines, our science is slowly beginning to ‘prove’ it.  It strengthens our immune system and even has some cancer fighting properties.  Here are links to a couple of studies:
   1. One on mice: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4946216/
   2. One on humans: https://iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/biof.552210120
4. We don’t eat the chaga – it’s much to hard and woody.  We simmer the chaga chunks or powder for a long time and then drink the ‘tea’.  It tastes like coffee, but much smoother.
5. It can be harvested in the winter.  In fact, it’s much easier to harvest in the winter-time because we can easily see the blackened outside part of  Chaga against the white of the Birch without all the leaves in the way.  Some people say we should ONLY harvest in the winter, but that’s just not true.  There is no change in the medicinal value of the chaga in other seasons, and you won’t harm the tree by simply cutting the chaga off.

Here is a link to more detaily information about chaga by a fellow forager in Eastern Wisconsin.  Enjoy!

https://edenwildfood.wordpress.com/2017/12/18/harvesting-chaga-what-you-need-to-know/

Rose Hips

Hubby and I were out looking for mushrooms on Thursday October 18 (which happens to be our anniversary – 38 years and counting!).  I really wanted some Hen of the Woods to make jerky with, but….we got skunked.  Well, not really, since we found a BIG Beautiful patch of Rose Hips.  Look at how gorgeous these are!!  Some of them were shriveled and dry, which is perfect because I’m going to dry them anyhow.  
 If you have rose bushes, you might be in the habit of pruning faded rose blossoms to encourage more flowers, but if you leave them, you will see these small, berry-like seed balls. 

I thought about making some jelly with some of these berry-like seed pods.  It would be quite tasty….but….I don’t use a lot of jelly.  I drink a LOT of tea, though, so that’s what will happen with this bunch.  I’m going to put them in the dehydrator until they get crisp, then keep them in a glass jar until I’m ready to make a nice bright and tart and sunny-tasting tea, full of vitamin C.  Good stuff for dark, cold winter months. 
These were hips from Wild Roses in Northern Polk County, and you can use hips from virtually any roses at all – wild, shrub, vines or cultivated.   

Here’s what the inside of the Rose Hips look like.  One thing to note here is the tiny, hair-like fibers that you can barely make out surrounding those seeds. If you want to make jam, pie, or anything that involves eating the entire berry, you will want to scoop those seeds out of the berry.  Those hair-like fibers don’t break down in the digestive process and they cause itching and discomfort on the, um, tail-end of the process.  You just don’t want that, trust me. 

I have noticed that I find Wild Rose Hips near water – on the South Shore of Lake Superior; near Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan, near McKenzie Creek in northern Polk County.  They are out there right now, go get yours.  🙂

Chokecherries

The chokecherries are ready to harvest!  I don’t know why the birds haven’t gotten them all, but I’m glad!  Last weekend, hubby and I harvested 25# of these beauties, most of which are bubbling into wine right now.  We saved out a few pounds to make jelly and syrup with, too.  They are delicious when cooked, but very astringent when you eat them raw.  It feels like they suck the spit right out of your mouth, leaving it dry and feeling weird.  

One of the ways to know you have chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) is to look on the leaf petiole (stem) to see if it has a couple of little glands – they look like tiny bumps, and you can see them here, just barely.  Black cherries hang in a long cluster, just like chokecherries, and can be used interchangeably.  

To make a syrup, I pull the little berries off the stems and put them in a pan with enough water to not-quite-cover them.  I simmer until they get good and soft and I start seeing the pits floating around, then strain the pits out, keeping as much of the pulp as I can.  (I like my syrup chunky….if you like it smooth, then you’ll want to use a finer mesh to strain just the juice).  I’ll put the chunky juice back into the pan with an equal amount of organic sugar, then boil until I can’t stir it down.  Cool and refrigerate.  So far the syrup I made has lasted a week in the fridge, and I am going to freeze it soon.  I’m using it to flavor my kombucha, and over ice cream.

Happy Trails!!