Becoming a Forager

This morning, the baby and I walked out into the yard in our pajamas. The air was fresh and warm and the sky threatened thunderstorms. As the cats followed us out to the woodpile, I saw that our small hill was covered with violets. Yub Yub and I quickly began to collect. I wanted to try a variation on the violet jelly I made a few weeks ago.

This impromptu collection caused me to reflect on our project. Foraging is becoming an ingrained part of our lives. I think Thag has wanted this from the beginning, but for me, this project was just a bit of fun, sampling new things, a way to be united in something new and exciting. But it has become much more.

I am thinking about wild foods in new ways. Yesterday we ate wild foods at each meal, and when I packed a lunch for Thag, usually an assortment of leftovers, I found that our leftovers all had wild foods in them. The other day at the store, I bought something to go with a wild plant rather than searching out a wild plant to go with something in the fridge. And this morning, I found myself collecting from my yard to experiment with and extend recipes I’ve already tried. I’m excited to find that my relationships with the wild plants is changing and expanding. Perhaps we are really a cave family after all.