I am doing something different this week, I asked my gal Madelyn Walters to write me up a blog. Her blog is a refreshing mix of recipe blogs about wild and locally cultivated foods, but also pertaining to living a more local lifestyle. Check out her website www.bloomwildcraft.com and read some of her recipes. Sign up for her email list! Whatever you do enjoy this blog below!

Why Wild?

For most people, a weekly stop at the grocery store is commonplace. The cabinets run dry, our fresh food is used up, and we look to the grocery stores that stock foods from all over the world. It is truly an incredible time to be living in. We can order almost any food item online, or run to the store and find fresh bell peppers in the middle of January! This is amazing, and I certainly partake in the common purchases of a consumer. Up until about 4 and a half years ago, I purchased all the food I consumed. I was actually eating a plant based diet at the time, and most of my plate consisted of foods shipped in from all over the world. Once I met my partner Clay, my whole perspective was shifted.

If you haven’t followed along, Clay is a forager here in the Northern part of the Lower peninsula of Michigan. He teaches local wild edible plants to our community and hosts his blog NoMi Hunt | Gather with a wealth of knowledge on plants. He has taught me most of what I know, and I’m grateful for the education. It feels as though I have taken a complete 180 degree spin from my old lifestyle. Today, I practice foraging, and eating from the land around me which has resulted in a better balance of hormones, immune function, happiness, and clarity. I now feel like I do a fair job at living along with the seasons here in Northern Michigan as well.

This isn’t to say that this can’t be achieved without foraging locally. I’m lucky to live in a community where local, organic farming is supported. I look forward to the summer farmers markets every year, and love to see the fantastic array of local produce while seeing friendly familiar faces. However, I feel strongly about wild food and the benefits that it could bring so many more people no matter where anyone lives.

One of the benefits of wild foods are the fact that they are so nutritious. Most of the foods we gather are on land that is rarely touched. For example, the leeks that we forage every spring sprout up just as the ground thaws in a patch of private land nearby. These leeks sprout up every year with some of the largest leaves I have ever seen. They are visited by deer as passing through the woods, leaving droppings. The leeks are surrounded by the fallen leaves that are composted throughout the winter and the coming years. There is no tilling involved, and each year, a percentage of the leeks send up their seed stalks to create more leeks the following year.

Aside from leeks, many wild plants are highly nutritious. In fact, there has been found a correlation between the bitter flavors in some vegetables and high concentrations of calcium. This brings to mind plants such as watercress and wintercress. Not only does their bitter flavor indicate nutrients, but it is well known that tasting bitter actually stimulates bile production and digestion, and studies have been done on the correlation between sulforaphane and it’s anti cancer properties as well. Most of these flavors are unmatched in the world of farming. What most would consider bitter such as broccoli or chard, are bland compared to the flavors of wild greens.

In my efforts to consume local goods, wild food is the most sensible choice. The carbon footprint on locally foraged foods is little to nothing. In fact, in the springtime when the weather begins to warm up, Clay will head out for a mid morning run on the weekends. Upon returning, he walks through the door, breathing heavily, asparagus in hand as it grows roadside on the desolate road around the corner from our house. In most cases, when we set out to gather food, we will drive the 5-10 miles to our spots and then hike in another mile or two to our destination, taking our time and enjoying the outdoor air as we walk. It’s clear that foraging can have the least impact on our environment than any other form of food procurement.

The relationship that blossoms over years of interacting with the environment is unlike anything else. I forage because it provides me with healthy delicious food and in return I do what I can to take care of the land so that I can not only partake in the abundant harvest but other humans and animals can as well. Every winter I participate in the pruning of feral apple trees which helps keep them free of disease and allows their fruits to be larger. I’ve been an active participant in removing invasive species in patches of black raspberries that I visit yearly. I even harvest the “invasive” parsnips and garlic mustard that grows in my town and eat them happily. What I’m trying to say is something that Clay has spoken about for many years: humans are a part of the landscape too. Nature is not a museum where we must not touch anything. Nature is in a constant flow of change, and we should be an active participant in that change in my opinion. Many plants thrive with human interaction. When we dig up roots, the soil is disturbed and makes for easier sprouting of seeds. When wild rice is harvested, there is inevitably rice that doesn’t make it into the canoe and sinks to the bottom to become plants for the following years. When we walk through the woods, our shoes inevitably pick up seeds from wild leeks and spread them far and wide. Just being outside there is a precious exchange between the air we breathe and the plants that produce that air. These are just a few examples, but I hope it helps you to see that there is a divine relationship between humans and nature and we ought to experience that.

So, that is why I choose wild. In a lot of ways it feels like I don’t even have a choice. My ancestors ate food from the land, as all of ours did, and it has come alive in my soul, so much that if I denied being in nature, I would deny a part of myself.

Thanks so much for reading my blog. If you have any thoughts you’d like to share about how you like to interact with wild plants, please comment below. If you would like to see more content, support me by visiting my shop page! Stay well.

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