Wild Blessings

A learning resource that can help you get outside and connect with nature.

My Facebook Confession

Holly

I have had many emails from Wild Blessings fans asking where my posts have disappeared to.ย  The answer is FACEBOOK!ย  In June of 2012, I reluctantly joined Facebook so that I could connect with my four sons who mostly communicate via FB.ย ย  Then I found out that Facebook is addicting and easy.ย  A lot easier than uploading photos in an organized fashion and writing coherent blog entries…like one click compared to 8-13 clicks….ย  So I took the path of least resistance and let my blog slide during the busy harvesting months but posted often on my FB wall.

My goal was to retrieve all these ‘albums’ during the Winter months when I had less to do.ย  Well I’m the kinda gal that ALWAYS has something to do and that didn’t work out too well.ย  So you can ‘friend’ me on Facebook and peruse my many wild albums if you want to catch up with Holly riding nature’s wave through the months.

2012 I taught many classes, gave a talk at the local library using Keynote for the first time, spoke to a Survival Preparedness group, taught twice at Cherokee Cove, hosted wild food feasts, adventured on Foraging Fridays, included a handful of wonderful & wild young apprentices to help with all the work around here, offered wild consults, made lots of powerful healing remedies from wild weeds, made forest fairies with the neighbor kids, had many tea parties… and spent lots of time with the plants studying their secrets and preparing them to consume a variety of fabulous ways…

Not in any particular order but here are some photos of my wild adventures since I got lost in Facebook.ย  Enjoy!

Bloodroot
Sanguinaria canadensis… Bloodroot
One of the first plants to grace the barren early Spring landscape. No, it is not edible but it is so BEAUTIFUL and useful in fascinating ways. Get lost staring at this beauty…
April
My forager’s basket (April 20): Dandelion greens and roots, Burdock roots, Plantain leaves, Ramps, Japanese Knotweed tender lemony shoots, scarlet Clover, wild Onions, young Nettles, Burdock leaves (not tasty but useful for healing burns) Getting ready to feed a crowd!
*Sunflower
“Nature is such a liberating force from the ‘religious fog’ because it is God’s and it speaks volumes about His ‘nature’! It’s beauty is staggering, the diversity…the abundance…such generosity…” from The Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge

 

A paleo lasagna with egg crepes for noodles and Dandelion leaves as a spinach substitute. It was excellent!
Milkweed (Asclepias sp) is my favorite wild edible. Learn why at my blog: https://wildblessings.com/page/2/?s=throw+me+into+that+milkweed+patch
Milkweed (Asclepias sp) is my favorite wild edible. Learn why at my blog: https://wildblessings.com/page/2/?s=throw+me+into+that+milkweed+patch
lunch
I had fried up some Milkweed ‘potatoes’ for a frittata for a Wild Event and saved some for my lunch. The Queen Anne’s Lace flower blossom I dipped in hot coconut oil then into cinnamon sugar for a delicate carroty treat.

My forager’s basket (October 14): More Crabapples (really can one ever get enough?), High Bush Cranberries (not related to cranberries but they are a great substitute), Chestnuts, Rose Hips, Barberry fruits (first time I’ve experimented with these, they are going into my Mango chutney), Chestnut Oak acorns, Carolina Pecans, Pine cones (not sure what kind of Pine…), Comfrey (a fraction of the amount I have dried for healing teas)… Everything you see here is free except for the baking pumpkin, the zucchini and the heritage tomato. The hidden abundance that surrounds us is a gracious reminder that we matter to God.
Rashell fermentation
Rashell Aunchman taught me how to make fermented meads from wild edible berries and leaves.
At my immune building class, everyone made their own wild Oxymel, which we called Whoop Ass. Either cooking with it or taking it as a straight shot will scare away bugs! Cast of characters: wild onion, sumac berries, rose hips, barberries, onion, garlic infused in half vinegar and half local honey.
wild seed blend
Wild Seed Zest Seasoning Ingredients from left to right: Powdered Nettle leaf, Turmeric, ground Hemp seeds, Sesame seeds, Pumpkin seeds, Dulce, Lambsquarter seeds, Yellowdock seeds, Amaranth seeds and the white is Celtic sea salt.
I have hosted more wild food feasts than I can count! A wealth of free food. The key is in preparation, something I’m getting pretty good at!
*apprentices shopping Llama farm
Grocery baskets full of God’s green gifts of food and medicine. Feeling blessed since we had 50 people to feed. By the end of the day we had far more than this to sort and clean and cook with. Love these girls!
CherokeeCove wild meal
The campers at Cherokee Cove foraged and cooked their wild Oriental dinner. Here was our WILD menu:
Elderberry Spritzer, Peach Tea
Wild Salad w/ Noodles, Edible Flowers & Oriental Dressing
Hot & Sour Soup w/ Milkweed Bud Peas & Burdock Root
Dandelion Sesame
Jasmine Fried Rice w/ Red Clover flowers
Stir Fried Milkweed Pods, Purslane & not so Wild Veggies w/
Sassafras Peanut Sauce
Egg Foo Young w/ Wood Sorrel
Spring Rolls w/ Lambsquarter, Chickweed & Milkweed Shoots
Sweet & Sour Sumac Sauce
Berry Balm Crunch w/ Hemp Vanilla Icecream
Hot Linden Tea (Basswood Flowers)
food table
I gave a talk on Why Eat Wild Edible Plants at the county library. The food was wildly delicious! The Purslane pickles and the Lambsquarter teropitas were harvested in the drought smitten backyard of my son’s home in Illinois. The only thing thriving for states around in the 2012 severe drought were the weeds. YES!
Info table
My information table. I always feature Linda Runyon’s fabulous materials. The tea pot was a gift from her to me. A keepsake from her homestead days. A precious treasure. If tea pots could talk….
Jan18
A blanket of snow on my hammock.
Barberries in snow
Barberries in the snow.
Taylor checking the frozen harvest!
Tapping Sugar Maples with my adventurous friend Taylor. This is the time of year to be tapping Maples and Birches. Freezing temps at night and WARM days means the sap is running. One can hear the life surging behind the bark and the steady drip into the buckets fills my heart with gratitude.
Boiling on the stove top….for hours. Clear Maple sap tasty like pure water with a twinge of sweetness to it. The brown liquid in the glass jug jar in front is the final boiled down syrup. The finished syrup takes a lot of boiling down. The ratio is 40:1. So for 1 gallon of Maple Syrup it takes 40 gallons of Maple water.
Pantry
From forage to pantry shelves. Nothing like jars of free food!
My apothecary
My herb closet. A-Z from Arnica to Yellowdock…
keynote talk
15 wild foodies showed up for my talk on how to build your immune system the wild way. Good times.
Yellow tick flowers
I am speechless. Nature is God’s way of ‘showing off’.
Sumac gummies
Sumac berry gummies are so yummy!
Deut 33-26
“There is no other God like you, riding through the heavens to my help, in majestic glory through the sky!” Deuteronomy 33:26

The hours of foraging in all kinds of weather observing nature’s wave surge and roll and return to the earth with the seasons, filling empty baskets with His handiwork and generosity, cooking up wild concoctions, spreading ‘wild fires’ by teaching others, time alone with my collies roaming these hills have filled my soul with gratitude and has enriched my life.ย  I feel as if I have been restored to the garden of Eden where not only am I surrounded by amazingness of creation but I can talk to the Maker and dance with Him as He reveals more of His green gifts full of wisdom and crafted in love.ย  I have become a worshipper, not of the created but of the Creator!

John 1:1-5ย  “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.ย  He was with God in the beginning.ย  Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.ย  In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.ย  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

About the Author

Holly Drake

My name is Holly Drake and I love to study, teach, and talk about wild foods. I live in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina with my husband Jason and my dog Max where I explore the beauty of God's creation to learn as much as I can about wild foods that are available to us for free. [READ ALL ARTICLES]

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  1. Hi Holly, I am exited to have discovered your blog and to start reading about you.
    we share your spirit and are walking a similar road in life and my wife Lucia and I will surely be in touch with you a lot. We raise grassfed beef, lamb goats eggs and chickens and some pastured pork. We sell our products at farm markets, health food stores and at the farm. we use some wild plants, but see that we can learn much from you. we are Kombucha and Kefir grain fermenters as well. We are friends with Jo Robinson and I am sure you have seen her new book “Eating on the Wild Side” We also live near Nina Plank and (real food)
    Lucia is on the Board of NOFA NJ and has worked with Shannon Hayes, Charlie

    Reply

  2. I just love this site. I do all this stuff here in Minnesota. Looking for ways to market. I tried farmers market this year and did ok, but now it is winter. Can a living be made? or is this just my hobby?

    Reply

    • Hi Karen, Believe it or not, wild edible plants are making an increasing showing in high class restaurants. It’s rather trendy at the moment. I am going to be selling seasonal wild edible plants to a few local (more high end) restaurants this coming season. Why not approach restaurants in your area that may want to offer this niche market for their customers…? Do your homework and educate the chefs as to the nutritional value of each plant and give them tips on preparing each plant that you bring in for them to cook with. Give them ideas for how to sell the menu with these wild plants as the featured attraction. Let me know how it goes. God bless you!

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