Foraging

Good morning! Here I sit looking at an old list of things to get done... ever notice how those lists, once lost, are so quickly forgotten? 

Well, this list included the task to continue learning the art of foraging. 

You may ask, "Why would you want to forage?"

Let me tell you... 

We, as a family, love to go hiking. 

We have our own unique hiking style. We look at maps and compare that with what we've seen when driving. When an area just doesn't seem to make sense, we hike it! 

Hence, our family hikes are off-trail explorations of any and everything. 

While hiking a few years ago I noticed there are a lot of berries out there. Then the Pilcher Park Nature Center put out its annual recipes for garlic mustard as well as a complete pictorial to help identify and pull this edible invasive 'weed'. 

I bought a wild edible book at Barnes and Noble to keep in the Jeep. Now when we are out hiking we can learn to identify edible plants. 

There is nothing to compare to the look on your child's face the first time they eat cattail seed pods cooked like corn on the cob! 

And gathering acorns to shell, dry and grind for fresh organic flour has its own reward that you can not understand until you begin to forage. 

There is also the knowledge that your family has an even more well-rounded education because you hike and learn together. 

To me foraging is great exercise that extends your education leading to a super healthy diet. 

What more could you ask for from a hike?