I'm not clear on the full extent of what this cooperative does (check out the website for more…read moreinfo), but I do know that they hosted an awesome foraging class over Mother's Day Weekend. That's right, my mom wanted to go foraging, and because I'm a goddamn fantastic son, we all went foraging.
To be clear, by foraging I mean wandering in the wild for edibles,* not the freegans rummaging through garbage dumpsters for things that Panera tossed at the end of the day. And that's not the only thing we learned on that rainy Saturday!
Now I know that you can eat so many things that you'd find right in your backyard. We learned how to spot goldenrod, garlic mustard, green onions and more. We learned the shape of the fern stem that you're looking for to identify the fiddleheads, when you have to catch pine cones in order to consume them, why a plant is called the white man's footprint, what edible greens look a bit like poison ivy, and how you can basically eat the entire dandelion plant.
We learned that it doesn't have to be a huge undertaking; you don't have to find yourself a whole meal, but that if you just stop mowing part of your backyard, you can pick up a few things on the way in from your car that'll supplement your diet and provide a surprising number of nutrients.
The class was led by a member of the cooperative, a local forager/farmer, and a local chef/forager,* and they knew their business. These are clearly folks that forage on a regular basis, and they were thorough and knowledgable, as well as fun and engaging.
Best of all, after we were done wandering through the rain we got to taste a few things made with the ingredients we had seen out in the wild. The chef** went through his processes, and served up a delightful ramp sausage with garlic mustard, mushroom pate with a bit of nettle pesto, pickled fiddleheads, and a pine soda to wash it all down.
If you're at all interested in sustainability, the outdoors, and food, I highly recommend you check this cooperative out.
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*Up until now, the word 'edibles' held a different meaning for me.
**Rob Handel of the Bees Knees Cafe, which I will definitely be checking out as soon as I can get over there.