Something make out animated in me when I forage . It ’s something that does n’t quite spark when I ’m wait for seeded player to burgeon forth or weeding around tomato plants or place up garden fences . It ’s something primaeval — an energy that bubbles up from deeply within .
Before agriculture , there were huntsman - gatherers , and lately , I ’ve smell out a connectedness with those in my ancestry who scour the domain for their intellectual nourishment . When I spot St. John ’s wort bloom during the summer solstice or when my family and I explore in the evenings for the sweet black Bronx cheer , I ’m overcome with an excitation that I ca n’t quite explicate in any other way than the pursuit of wild plant is in my off-white . It ’s where my ancestor lie . As I walk the land , I wonder what the the great unwashed way back in my stemma gathered this time of the twelvemonth , and I dream about return this exercise onto future generation . Rachael Dupree
Finding Foraging
The past couple of eld , I ’ve been contented to just observe the ever - shifting landscape and advantageously get to know the plant life around us . However , this twelvemonth I require to do more . I want to take this Edwin Herbert Land up on its whirl to digest us . Earlier this calendar month , I hit the books with internationally renowned foragerSamuel Thayer , whose position is that we belonginnature . We ’re not here just to look at the landscape painting — in fact , he argues , the landscape painting is beg us to come be in human relationship with it . We are reckon tointeractwith it .
And so out we go , foraging .
The start of summer ends up being a peachy bad plot of seek and discover around here — a forager ’s paradise . Every mean solar day , there ’s something new to happen upon . While last week we picked elderflowers and yarrow , this week the blackberry are starting to ripen and the monarda is beginning to bloom . The wild lettuce patch outside our doorstep that I ’ve been harvesting from has almost had its fill and is beginning to deadbolt , but that ’s hunky-dory because I just descry our passion prime vine emerging from the priming around the niche . Daisies wrench over to milkweed and smutty - eyed Susans , which will soon turn over to goldenrod and teazel .
Careful Picking
I must admit that as a beginner to foraging , I ’m still cautious about what I piece . I do n’t want to overharvest , though Thayer puts my mind at rest when he says that when you reap with a posture of gratitude , it ’s nearly inconceivable to take too much because nature will always provide a surplus . ( Now there ’s an idea to take out . ) I also do n’t want to corrode something I should n’t , so for now , I stick with those things I can still easily name .
Other than the berries and a few cat valium , I ’d consider most of the plants I harvest to be herbal therapist , and so I contrive to preserve them for my bud chemist . Some thing , such as Achillea millefolium and red clover , I ’m dry for use in Camellia sinensis or as powdered herb . Other thing , such as mullein , dandelion and daisy flowers , I ’ll infuse into fossil oil for various uses . And most everything else — elderflower , violent lettuce , St. John ’s wort , wild uprise , monarda and more — I’ll preserve as small - batch tinctures , also recognize as alcohol infusions . Rachael Dupree
Agriculture will always have its place on our farm . This summer , we ’re growing tomatoes , squeeze , peppers and basil . We hope that over time , we ’ll flesh out that repertoire to comprehend a more diverse garden that feeds us throughout the season . However , the wild things on this farm that grow beyond the garden - fence perimeter will always hold a especial place in my heart , and I look forward to deepen my relationship to them as we proceed to grow into our life story here on the farm .
Rachael Dupree
Rachael Dupree
