Claire Goes Foraging: May 2016

Saturday, May 14, 2016

In our neighborhood we have a community garden and just outside that garden we created a little borrowing library. Claire Goes Foraging will be added today.

Why a Book?

Ever since I was a little girl I enjoyed exploring the woods and fields, picking wild mint by the creek, gathering dandelions for cooked greens and dandelion wine, and tasting the sweet drops that fell from the honey suckle flower. I learned the names of many wild things and because we had a very large garden that we children helped our mother tend, I also learned how to grow and identify common vegetable garden plants. I liked gathering the vegetables and planting but never quite warmed up to weeding. Weeding always felt like work to me.

Maybe that is why I got interested in finding a good excuse for allowing the weeds to grow. You can let them grow if they are food.

Fast forward many years and now I am an artist and still an avid forager. I am part of a foraging group in my town and continue to learn about the bounty that surrounds us.

I have been disturbed to know that many adults and children in our country go to bed hungry every night while this bounty is right outside their door. My hope is that those children and their parents will have their eyes open to available food even in an urban area and never have to go hungry again.

The food that I talk about in the book is highly nutritious and when properly prepared, delicious. I only mention a few common 'weeds.' There are many others. I encourage children and parents to do like Claire and research on their own using their computer or by visiting the local library.

Never eat a wild plant that you don't know. Learn first and then eat!

Claire Goes Foraging

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Saturday, May 14, 2016

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