Asian Wild Food Feast

Well another wild event has come and gone. 12 wild food enthusiasts congregated to learn, forage and cook an Oriental meal together.

Preprep is essential to pulling these things off and I was well prepared this time.

Check out the pics of my stocked frig!… yet…an hour and a half before my guests arrives I still had not gone shopping for the fresh wild food.

So off I scampered to the Llama farm across the road in high hopes that the overgrown vegetable garden was still stocked with yummy weeds, free for the pickin.

Too late, two stately Llamas were feasting on my grocery list. I joined them to rescue some Amaranth seeds heads and lambsquarter seeds but they had wiped out the Purslane and the Chickweed that had rivaled the squash early in the summer. Hmmm…. nothing like calling it close!

I lost track of time and got home just as my first guest was arriving. So I had help emptying the car and sorting the groceries into stacks of ‘look a likes’.

I even brought home a stalk of poison hemlock to show everyone what this plant looks like so they won’t be snookered and beguiled by it’s beauty.  It really is an amazingly beautiful plant and when compared to the Queen (as in Queen Anne’s Lace) it doesn’t look at all alike.

The food was wonderful. Miraculous how my kitchen accommodated 12 cooks. It was a dance to be sure!

Thank you Barbara, Laura, Grace, Mark, Toni, Sandi, Pat, Pam, Cheryl, Elaine and Jason.  You were all so interested and interesting! and you cooked up a great feast!!!

Mark’s eggrolls had Milkweed pods, Burdock root, Comfrey leaf, and pickled Milkweed buds!  He pan fried them to perfection in hot coconut oil.

Grace’s wild salad was absolutely beautiful and so healthful.
Sandi and Pat labored over the hot stove making the best egg foo young ever.
Pam cooked up the delicious Venison stir fry
Toni made a Sweet and Sour soup with Milkweed buds.
And Cheryl made a double batch of Blackberry Lemonbalm Crunch for dessert (topped with vanilla Hemp ice cream)

We ate on the front porch in perfect weather conditions. Afterwards, while munching on a blackberry crunch, we watched 20 minutes or so of Linda Runyon’s fabulous 3 hour DVD where she told a little bit of her story of living off the land for so many years. She is one fascinating and resourceful woman!

Then I quizzed the group on the plants we had consumed that night (having collected a sample of each in a bag). The winner of the ‘contest’ won a choice of an herbal or wild gift from my product line. Everyone surprised me with how much they had retained.  Mark, let me know how the Juniper Berries work for you.

Several of my repeat dinner guests delighted me with their stories of how they are foraging on their own and growing in their wild skills.

It is a successful and good feeling to see people reclaim their roots and wild heritage as their own.

Wild blessings!
Holly

Enjoy the photos 🙂

The last two pictures show Grace and Laura Bowen making lip gloss with Poke Berries.  First they smashed the Poke berries them then added castor oil (about 1/2 and 1/2) removed the seeds and the skins of the berries and mixed it well to make voila a very effective lip gloss.  You can see Grace’s ruby lips in the photo where she is holding her beautiful wild salad…  Oh and don’t EAT the seeds because they are TOXIC.
Just saying…

A Full Kitchen