Spring foraging for wild edibles and medicinals starts off slow and becomes an incredible bounty rather quickly. Foraging for early spring roots and tubers is an essential skill for folks interested in year round sustainable harvest. We look at the landscape as a garden to be tended and cared for as part of our foraging practice. The wild edible plants are more nutritious and require less attention and care than the cultivated varieties. They are easier to seed, transplant, and harvest from sustainably as well. Our early spring roots menu consists of dandelion, evening primrose, burdock, thistle, ground nut, wild carrot, and cow parsnip. Early Spring medicinal roots in our wild harvest include japanese knotweed for lyme disease and Barberry root for the berberine. We cover plant uses through the season in our foraging and earth living courses through the year. Each time, the class is a little different because the available food, medicine, and utilitarian plants are at a different stage in their cycle. The photo is of one of our apprentices preparing a stir fry from the roots we gathered. Remember to learn the small handful of dangerous plants first and to forage with an experienced herbalist until you get familiar with natures seasonal bounty. Casting the seed heads of your favorite plants increases their numbers and provides you with more food and medicine. Sustainable wild foraging is about mutually beneficial relationships. This includes the plants you work with as well as the folks you feed.
A healthy wild foraged stir fry at Maine Primitive Skills School
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