A group of Upper Valley Localvores, led by Jim Merkel, had an enjoyable afternoon of foraging at Kye Cochran’s farm in West Hartford on May 22nd. After hunting and gathering, we prepared a feast: a delicious salad of dandelion, plantain, cooked fiddleheads, sheep sorrel and young horsetail in a maple vinaigrette dressing; stir-fried cattail shoots and fiddleheads; steamed stinging nettles with pasta; dock, burdock, marsh marigold greens; dandelion quiche; strawberry-mint and stinging nettle teas. (I’d pass on the marsh marigolds next time; after boiling in 3 waters they were mush . . and I know there has to be a better way to cook burdock than boiling it unpeeled!) One forager said she would shop less if she had a regular foraging group; she thinks that shopping is her way of acting on basic “hunter-gatherer” inclinations . . . perhaps we’ve found a cure for “Affluenza”?! Kye had made an outstanding loaf of local whole wheat bread to top off our feast. We agreed that this should be an at-least annual event. Thanks to Jim Merkel for sharing his knowledge of wild edibles!

Pat

Comments Off