Lisa Rose - Midwest Foraging

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My guest today is Lisa Rose, author most recently of Midwest Foraging, which was supposed to be the basis of our conversation and we do touch on that some, but also spend our time telling stories about family traditions; place and the lands we each feel connected to; and how foraging and food can return seasonality to our lives, along with a host of new flavors, once we leave the grocery store behind.

We also digress in the middle to talk about nocino, an Italian sipping liquer, which you can find a recipe for at Lisa’s site, Burdock and Rose, and pick up a copy of her book at Timber Press.

When it comes to Midwest Foraging I agree with the quote from Sam Thayer that graces the cover, “A beautiful book that any forager in the Midwest will want to own.” As there is an overlap in plants from this book to where I am in the Mid-Atlantic, it’s a good addition to those book shelves as well. The layout and format leads to a book that you can, as Dan De Lion recommended, spend time with to leisurely browse and read to build a familiarity with plants which you can then begin to recognize as you go about your daily walks or journeys into the landscape.The entries, which are arranged alphabetically around a common name, include the latin binomial name, very important for proper discussion and identification, along with which parts are edible, a short introduction, and one to a few color pictures. Common features you’ll find in many field guides include descriptive text, how and what to gather, how to eat the plants, and, where necessary, cautions about poisonous plants that have similar identifying features. Where this book stands out from some earlier field guides is the inclusion of information on where and when to gather, very important for knowing the right time of year to look for a particular plant; and notes about future harvests. This latter portion in particular caught my attention because using those entries we can wildcraft ethically to insure plants are available for ongoing use and so we can tend to Zone 4 and the wild places. With 115 plants included, Midwest Foraging covers a lot of ground and is a good first choice for a beginning forager in the region covered. For more experienced folks with a larger library this is a valuable companion to include with your other field guides. Add a copy to your library by ordering from Timber Press or your local retailer, where the book lists for $24.95.

If you enjoyed this conversation with Lisa and would like to add your thoughts to the discussion, or your own review of Midwest Foraging, leave a comment below. 

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Dina Falconi - Foraging and Feasting

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My guest for this episode is Dina Falconi, an herbalist from the Hudson Valley of New York and the author of the gorgeous book Foraging and Feasting, which you’ll find at botanicalartspress.com.

During our conversation today Dina shares her background as a forager and herbalist, and her background as a permaculture practitioner which began with a design course taught by Geoff Lawton. We also discuss the plants she chose for the book, the difference between edible and culinary plants, and the distinction about historical and modern food safety. This interview is part of the ongoing series on rewilding and foraging. I have links to the earlier episodes in the show notes. Start with this interview and work your way back through theses podcasts to learn more about wild foods, edible plants, and how we can improve the gifts we receive from them and our relationships with those plants. As usual from an interview, I walk away with from this interview with more thoughts that build and expand my repertoire as a permaculture practitioner. The first is that I am adapting the recipes from the book into a series of lessons to use in my own cooking to teach my children a variety of basic formulas so they can be prepared to cook with whatever they have on hand, whether wild, picked from the garden, or bought at market. That leads to the moment that Dina and I talking about master skills. Cooking is definitely something that everyone should learn to some degree. To that we also include foraging. To that list of I would add creating fire, tool making, building, such as carpentry or masonry, and permaculture design. That is a very basic list, but I wonder what you would add to it based on where you live and what you do. What are the basic master skills you would teach to build a permaculture community? One that truly cares for earth, the individuals, and the culture? I wonder how teaching those skills now, to interested adults and children, can influence the way we live. Will we find greater personal and community freedom by having more self-reliance? How will that change the culture we create and live in? I’d like to hear your ideas. Get in touch. Email: The Permaculture Podcast Of write if you would prefer: The Permaculture Podcast The Permaculture Podcast You can also leave a comment in the show notes, send a tweet to @permaculturecst, or join in the conversations on facebook. Facebook.com/thepermaculturepodcast. From here, a few class announcements. Tradd Cotter contacted me about an event he’s teaching at the end of the month. If you are near Keswick, Virginia, April 24 - 26, 2015, join him along with Mark Jones and Ethan Levesque, for a course called, “Cultivating Kingdom Fungi: Mushrooms for People and Planet.” Find out more about this at: https://www.sharondalefarm.com/workshops/ Ben Weiss and Wilson Alvarez begin teaching a new course on permaculture in an urban environment as well, in Harrisburg, PA. You can find this course on Facebook by searching for Downtown Harrisburg Permaculture Course, or through the link in the show notes. Ben and Wil are also looking for scholarship sponsors for this course. Contact susq.permaculture@yahoo.com if you would like to donate. Finally, as I draw this to a close, this show depends on your ongoing support to stay on the air. Though it looks like I’ll be moving to a full time job this summer, as my life now requires that I have an income that can support a family, I’m going to do everything I can to keep the show going and continue to release new episodes and remain a resource for anyone who takes the time to email, call, or write a letter. You can help me keep going by using the paypal link on the front page of the show at thepermaculturepocast.com to make a one time, direct contribution, or by becoming a recurring member via Patreon at patreon.com/permaculturepodcast. Know that I am here with you, wherever your journey takes you. Until the next time, take care of earth, yourself, and each other. Resources: Botanical Arts Press Dina's Website Past Interviews on Foraging and Rewilding Peter Michael Bauer Violet and Steve Brill Dan De Lion Sam Thayer Arthur Haines 1 Arthur Haines 2 Wilson Alvarez and Ben Weiss Classes: Cultivating Kingdom Fungi with Tradd Cotter Downtown Harrisburg Permaculture Course

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Arthur Haines - Wild Foods

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My guest for this episode is Arthur Haines. He is a botanist, forager, and wild foods expert from Maine, where he teaches these ideas through his school, the Delta Institute of Natural History. You can find out more about Arthur at arthurhaines.com. Arthur is a returning guest, so if you'd like to learn more about him, and foraging, check out the first interview. I like Arthur, the work he's doing, and how he shares this information. He's steeped in not only the history and lore of wild plants and native foods, but also offers plenty of examples to go along with the conversation. To carry this discussion, we begin with a definition of what Arthur means by a wild food, and then discuss four main areas where wild foods differ from cultivated ones:

  • Nutrient density.
  • Phtyochemisty.
  • Essential fatty acid ratio.
  • Calories relative to fiber.

There is a great deal of useful information in this conversation, though I would have liked a better connection for our conversation that day. You'll hear that when you give this show a listen, but please stick with us through it as what we cover is well worth your time, ties together several previous interviews, and sets us up for a conversation I recently recorded with Dr. John Kitsteiner about permaculture, food, and our health. To add to this conversation, here are links to past interviews about foraging, tending the wild, and nutrient density. Wild Foods and Foraging with Arthur Haines Foraging with Sam Thayer Restoring Eden: Zone 4 Permaculture with Wilson Alvarez and Ben Weiss Nutrient Dense Foods with Dan Kittredge An Introduction to Nutrient Dense Farming with Mary Johnson If you enjoy this conversation, and the others related to it, please consider making a donation to the show so I can keep things going. Find out how at: www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/support. One of the points Arthur raised in this conversation that stuck with me was when I talked about the Paw Paw and he said that “The work of eating is done for us,” as aresult of plant breeding and selection. Taking a step back from that, when I look at our supermarket that space plays a similar role in taking the effort out of eating. We can buy what we want, whenever we want. I was reminded of this over the 2013 holidays my family fell back on our old eating habits, and how we are returning to our more thoughtful diet as we get out from under that crunch. In that process my daughter asked for strawberries and we were able to buy them from California, picked, pre-washed, and packaged by the pound ready for our consumption. As I cut them up to eat, I found myself thinking about the decision that went into purchasing them, and how easy it was to buy those berries and bring them home. If I want to the supermarket and restaurants mean I never have to prepare or cook food. Ever. I'm not condemning grocery stores or our ability to plug-in to the world-wide network of food, but just be more conscious of using it. I think the place to start is to get back into being intimate with our food, and to do that, start cooking a meal at home. Once a week is a start. Take it slow. Find a favored recipe from friend or family member and make that part of what you do. Then add another, and another, until your're comfortable cooking with what you have. Then try fresh foods from a farmer's market. Then add wild foods. Arthur mentioned violets, which grow here in Pennsylvania, and are one of my favorite fresh food snacks when I'm in the yard. Sure, I might not fill up on a few handfuls of them, but they give me something to munch on, as do young dandelion leaves. Both of these you can sneak into a salad and feed to your friends as new flavors and colors on their plates. Then the next time you talk to them and ask about wild foods, you can say they've already eaten some, and have a new conversation about the wonderful edibles all around us. Are you a fan of wild foods? Planning to learn about them and add them to your diet? I'd love to hear from you. E-mail: The Permaculture Podcast . You can also join in the conversation by liking the show on Facebook: facebook.com/thepermaculturepodcast or on Twitter, where I am @permaculturecst. From here, next week on January 14th, Marisha Auerbach joins me to talk about permaculture, including continuing the thread of permaculture and education. The first part of my talk with Rhamis Kent about Permaculture and Earth Care is out on January 21st, and then Eric Puro of ThePoosh.org rounds out the month and sets up for the 4 weeks of February. If you're interested in taking a permaculture design course, but haven't had the time, consider joining me for the next year long, mentored, PDC+, which begins April 1st, 2014. Email me for a copy of the course syllabus to see if you are interested, and we can arrange registering you for the class if you'd like. On the website you'll see two new menu options at the top: Show Archives and Release Schedule. The show archive is still being filled out, but you'll find the past episodes arranged in chronological order by topic, so within each topic the first episode is the oldest on that subject. It's not complete yet, as I'm cleaning up the archives and continue to add more links to the list, but it's a good place to start. The release schedule forecasts into the future when different guests, topical episodes, and reviews, will come out. Until the next time, take care of the earth, your self, and each other. Resources: Arthur Haines Delta Institute of Natural History beta-Carotene (Wiki) Dandelions (Wiki) Ox-eye Daisy (Wiki) (Episode 2014-001)

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