Wild Edible Wisdom

It would be impossible to write about everything I have learned and experienced thus far at Findhorn Ecovillage, but I will share what I share and we will see what comes. Yesterday I went on a wild edible walk with a fascinating and wise herbal medicine man named Frank Cook. (http://www.plantsandhealers.com)

He told his fascinating life journey thus far of finding his passion for the plant world after going on a plant walk with 7song, the founder of the Northeast Botanical Medicine School in Ithaca, NY. He has travelled the world and particularly the United States learning all about the edible plants that grow “wildly” all around us. (I put wild in quotes because what does wild mean? Anything not planted by human intention?) I have never heard so much living knowledge about plants and herbs in my entire life. His message is one of abundance—look around, our best healers could be in our backyards. Roots, weeds, mushrooms, seaweeds, grasses—they all provide tons of nutrition and are extremely abundant

I learned soon after we began that a wild edible walk is more like a wild edible crawl. There were so many plants within a few yards of the building that we stayed in almost the same spot for three hours! The first picture is of dandelions, which you can eat EVERY part of—the leaves, stem, roots, and flower. You can either roast the roots or eat them raw, which is a great way to pre-feed the digestive tract; bacteria/gut flora feed off of the Inulin in the roots. I know we are accustomed to seeing arugula and spinach in our salads, but wouldn’t it be exciting to get some dandelion thrown in there? It’s all about getting creative and realizing the full potential of nature. Agriculture has become such a mono-crop culture; we’re being robbed of variety! The average American only eats a variety of 25 plants when there are THOUSANDS of edible plant species in the world.

St. John’s Wort is another healing “weed”. It is used to treat depression and burns and wounds. It has a subtle yellow flower and is found growing in the wild all over Scotland (and I’m sure many other parts of the world.)

So then we talked about grasses. Did you know THERE ARE NO POISONOUS GRASSES? So if there is ever a world crisis where BAM the lights turn out—just walk away from society for three weeks and know that you can eat all the grasses. (This was the advice given by Victoras Kulvinskas in his book Survival Into the 21st Century.) Yeah, it could be apocalyptic conspiracy theory and all that… but you know…I bet the Romans didn’t see it coming either, so just remember—grass won’t kill you. But the thing with grasses is that you can’t actually break down their fibers so you chew on them instead and suck out the chlorophyll for nutrients. You can also eat the seeds once they go to seed. Barley, rye, sugar, and rice are all in the grass family—they make up a HUGE part of our diet.

Nettles really shocked me—they are pretty harsh plants with a wicked sting. Frank nonchalantly picked a nettle leaf and said, “notice how all the needles go in one direction? You can push them down without getting stung, roll it up, and then make what I like to call a green pill.” I was blown away! But his confidence inspired me, so I grabbed a nettle leaf and held it in my hand. I pushed down on it just to feel the sting—ouch. But it only hurt for a moment, and then it turned into a nice rush of adrenalin. I brushed the needles down and then rolled it in my palm. Here it goes…I popped it into my mouth and ate it. YUM. It was much like any other salad green but it had a unique flavor of its own. Nettles are full of important nutrients like Boron. Also, Nettle tea is DELICIOUS.

I learned about so many wild edibles and medicines that I can’t wait to experiment with, but the last one I’ll share is called elderberry. When the fruit is in season it is used as a powerful antiviral. It can be crushed and fermented, made into a wine, or made into a tincture, among other things.

This wild edible crawl just made me think about the meaning of holistic medicine. Holistic, involving body mind and spirit--conceptualizing the human body as an inseparable part of nature--effected by everything from the tiniest microbe to the condensation on the window of my bedroom. Holistic to me means becoming aware of those little gifts that are EVERYWHERE. I never would have known that the dandelion weed in my front yard could help aid digestion or that I could survive off of the nutrients in grass. This is ancient knowledge that humans have lost only over the last 200 years really. Before this mirage of supermarkets in the Western World, people knew how to ferment and preserve their foods. They also knew that things grow in seasons and that there are crests and troughs of production, rather than the seemingly endless selection that supermarket aisles provide. I’m not asking to move backwards in time because that's impossible, but I have questions about every single energy-intensive modern comfort that relies on oil. From the planes that fly mangoes to the A&P in mid-February to the petroleum-based fertilizer that grows jumbo-sized tomatoes. I just question it. Questions of quantity versus quality. Have you ever tried those ugly-looking, misshaped tomatoes with lumps and bruises galore? They’re delicious!

So those are my thoughts for the day. If you feel inspired, go eat a dandelion and report back to me about your experience. And try twice—maybe with some balsamic on top the second time around. Mmm mmm good. (I mean, we don’t eat arugula undressed either so don’t expect too much from the dandelion, you know?)