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Wild Blessings

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

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Why Eat Wild Foods

March 10, 2012

Bountiful Harvest

Why Eat Wild Foods?

Nature was the original supermarket.  Ever wonder what the pioneers ate while transversing the Oregon Trail?  There were indeed supermarkets waiting at their destination but they weren’t the kind we have now.  Strictly seasonal and ever evolving wild edible plants have always been the Creator’s gift to us.  What I have been learning and am now teaching others used to be COMMON knowledge.  Relearning nature’s secrets and prolific offerings is a way of connecting with our ancestors in a life giving empowering way.

I found the outline for this article on the web years ago and have searched in vain to find the source to credit them. I am impressed with the thorough reflection of the various ways wild edible plants enrich our lives: Economic considerations, Health considerations, Gardening considerations and Well Being.

May 17th shopping bag contents: Dandelion Roots, Grape leaves, Crabgrass…

Economic considerations

  • FREE   Food prices are increasing at an alarming rate.  https://wildblessings.com/2011/07/14/shopping-for-free/    https://wildblessings.com/2011/08/23/my-wild-refrigerator-tips-on-drying/
  • Renewable resources  Wild plants tend to be prolific and often invasive.  They are the first vegetation to show up when the soil has been disturbed to renew the minerals back into the ground.
  • Abundant and readily available   Wild plants spread their seeds in a variety of creative life preserving ways.  Many of the weeds right outside our homes are edible and abundant

    Milkweed Seeds Attached to Tightly Pack Parachutes to Carry Them on the Wind

Health considerations

  • Highly nutritive: minerals and vitamins    Compared to cultivated vegetation wild edible plants are many many times richer in nutrients.  The Dandelion for example is high in calcium (a mineral that protects bones and teeth, prevents muscle cramping and maintains a regular heart beat.  The USDA recommended daily allowance for calcium is 800 mg.  One cup of Spinach has 102 mg of calcium, one cup of Kale has 206 mg and one cup of Dandelion leaves has 4,000 mg!

    Dandelion Blossom Early Spring
  • Fresh, enzyme rich cause you just picked it!  https://wildblessings.com/2011/09/14/from-forage-to-feast/
  • Wild foods have healing value: “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food”
  • My apothecary
    Holly’s Wild Herbal Apothecary
  • Many wild edible plants also have healing value
  • Pesticide free
  • Non GMO  http://www.responsibletechnology.org/
  • No additives and preservatives
  • Foraging is health inducing.  Vitamin D is an essential hormone that is best obtained from exposure to sun light.
A corner of my cultivated garden

Gardening considerations

  • Wild foods are tough to kill, tenacious  https://wildblessings.com/2011/04/24/japanese-knotweed-berry-jam/  If you can’t beat it…EAT it!
  • No need to garden and cultivate the weeds!  They grow like…weeds!
  • Duration of growth is longer than hybrid varieties.

    Milkweed offers a rich variety of food from early Spring through the Fall
  • Wild foods are resistant to climatic imbalances and survive drought
  • Weeds should be cultivated in the ‘garden’ for they bring up subsoil minerals and protect against many insects.  A great way to renurture devalued soil.

Well being

  • Be prepared for emergencies, wild foods are a secure resource. I look at all the wonderful food and medicines that grows right outside of my front door. These plants all have a purpose.  Everything we would ever need is right under our noses.
  • Learn to be independent and prepared for any contingency, become confident   https://wildblessings.com/2011/10/23/hollys-wild-shopping-guide/
  • Foraging is FUN  https://wildblessings.com/2012/01/19/forest-fairies/
  • Get in touch with nature and with the Creator God  https://wildblessings.com/2011/07/07/from-the-rising-of-the-sun/

“Oh Lord, how many and varied are Your works, in wisdom You have made them all.  The whole earth is full of Your riches.”  Psalms 10:24

 Resources:

Green Dean talks about Why Eat Wild Foods:  http://youtu.be/x97jebTQisU

 

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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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Comments

  1. Heather says

    March 10, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    Your area looks so incredibly beautiful, Holly

    Reply
    • holly says

      March 10, 2012 at 7:13 pm

      I agree! We saw the movie “The Last of the Mohegans” with Daniel Day Lewis (about 15 years ago) and stayed through the credits to see where the movie was filmed. North Carolina…. it was. Lord willing we were going to move there! After three years of job searching in NC we ended up moving to these breathtaking Blue Ridge mountains! I feel like I live on vacation!
      Our town has approximately 700 people in it, a General Store, a Mercantile bakery, two churches, an adventure rental along the river and a post office…. I purchased a sign from the General Store that says, “I wasn’t born in Todd but I got here as soon as I could!”
      Thankful!

      Reply

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About Wild Blessings

Welcome to my website. 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.

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