Wild Foods Club

The MN/WI St. Croix Valley is filled with people who recognize that the effort required for foraging for wild food is well worth it in terms of nutrition, getting to know the cycles of nature and the satisfaction of finding "free" food for the taking.

                    
                              Wild Food Potluck 2011: Sunday, October 23 6-9--the gathering place 

                                              behind FineAcresMarket, St. Croix Falls!!!!

          The  2011 WILD FOOD POTLUCK came and went. This is my review:

Purslane quiche with leeks (wow!), wild rice and burdock (yummy!), wild ginger root crumb cake with maple butter (really, REALLY good!), lambs quarters souffle (good enough for a fancy restaurant!), lemon nettle/brown rice hot dish (I make extra so I can eat it for a week), Chickweed dip (always impressive), wild grape jelly, garlic mustard pesto, wild mushroom and venison/wild rice hot dish (very good!), coconut curried yellow dock leaves (raves from the guests!), squirrel pot pie (surisingly tastey!), amaranth egg and cheese bake (amazing!), venison summer sausage with jalapeno and cheese (my mouth is still happy...), maple wine (unbelievably good!) and dandelion cordial (always delicious!). Please join us next year!!

                  
2010 WILD FOOD POTLUCK review:

Mushroom and wild rice soup (amazing!!), elderberry bread with maple butter (I've been dreaming about it...), elderberry pancakes with honey elderberry syrup (I'm speechless--I've been eating the syrup on everything!) Spicey Japanese Gobo (burdock)-carrot bowl (!!!!!!), lamsquarter's/cheese bake (wowee!), nettle/brown rice hot dish (always my favorite), "wild" escaped jerusalem artichoke in an amazing variety of ways --my favorite was the fried (of course), watercress salad (I wanted more...), chickweed dip (excellent!!), Burdock pickles (great!), elderberry cordial (delicious! and has come in handy lately), black walnut pesto and cookies (yum!), pin cherry and wild grape jelly (astoundingly good!), highbush cranberry wine and dandelion cordial (zowie!). I hope I didn't forget anyone. Hope you can join us foraging next Spring, Summer or for next Fall's potluck...

The Polk County Health Department requires that all participants are members of the club. Please contact me about how to join today. The DNR requires that any meat list the source and date, and waterfowl are illegal to share.

Please check out the  herb recipes section for ideas on what to bring for next year. Some of this years recipes have been added. Contact me if you need some interesting ingredients with which to experiment...

Please always remember to gather ethically, and only take as much as you need.

Some gathering tips:

Always be sure of what you harvest --identification skills required!
Edible roots are usually only great after the first frost, or in Spring, depending on the plant.
Fruit --must be gathered in season, then preserved.
Leaves--almost always in spring or b-4 bloom, sometimes after a first frost.
Mushrooms---always test them on yourself before feeding others...

Wild Food also includes meat, for those who are so inclined.

Interesting wild food articles, studies and other fun stuff:

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2604/2

http://www.eattheweeds.com/www.EatTheWeeds.Com/EatTheWeeds.com/EatTheWeeds.com.html

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/98promotions/april/recipes.html

http://www.juicer-steamer.com/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/fergus-drennan-wild-food-foroo-a-year.php

http://pdj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/6/4/275

http://www.self-reliance.net/wewf.html

http://www.survivaliq.com/survival/edible-and-medicinal-plants-wild-onion-and-garlic.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?Living-on-the-Wild-Side-of-Food&id=1147197

http://www.lockergnome.com/shadowmyth/2008/07/27/wildcrafting-your-own-food/