Wildcrafting

Haven't written a post in awhile but my friend told me she expected this in her inbox and she's holding me accountable. That was over a week ago though.

I was so glad I went! The Olympia Free Herbal Clinic organized their second annual Dandelion Seed Conference and fundraising adventure. I was lucky to obtain a scholarship to attend (although the entry fee is affordable compared to most conferences). I didn't know anyone there but ran into a tea seller (Bird's Eye Tea) I sometimes chat with at the University District Farmer's Market. She told me some of her stories about wildcrafting acorns, or driving to southern Oregon to harvest pine nuts, except there were none. That and Saturday's keynote, Heron Brae, “Beyond Ethical Wildcrafting: Remembering Our Human Place in the World”, who shared photos from her wild food foraging excursions while living off the grid -- I found most inspiring. She talked about the importance of giving back to the earth, such as replanting, or helping plants reseed themselves, for all that we consume of them.

One month ago I picked up The Front Yard Forager by Melany Vorass-Herrera at the library, and just started looking through it. There are some plants listed such as dandelion and clover that I am familiar with (I tried making dandelion fritters once) and many that I have yet to learn. Her basic claim is - why go out of your way to buy produce that has less nutrient value, is less fresh, and has more pesticides than the food you can harvest right in your neighborhood. I've always felt reluctance toward harvesting plants right in the heart of Seattle thinking they're polluted from the air, traffic, and other sources. She says to stay away from railways, but otherwise just to give the plants a good washing. Most of her recipes contain other ingredients you buy from the store though.

So you can't base your entire diet off wildcrafting, but there's value in rekindling your relationship to the plants around you. I suppose it would be good for me to be familiar with most of the plants I walk by in my day to day. So that is the big seed the conference has planted for me in the time that has followed.

Beans, Peas, Seed Conference

My roommate printed out this zine created by the Seed Ambassadors Project all about seed saving. There is a cool organization in Port Townsend dedicated to saving heirloom seeds called Seed Dreams that I mentioned in a previous post. All of this, and it's September so I've got my mind wrapped up in saving seeds. I'll be saving some runner beans and peas from the yard. Honestly I don't really enjoy eating them and just prefer to watch them vine up their tendrils. So I'd rather save them then eat them.

 

The peas which were planted before I moved in are perfectly dried out on the vine. I will cut them at the soil level and leave the roots in place so that nitrogen is fixed. I will wait until the beans dry out then do then remove those plants so I can put in fall crop. Or perhaps garlic.

 

 

Here is one lonely pod of what remains from a planting by the side of the house. The seeds did not take so well there because the soil is in poor condition.

 

In other news, I'm very excited to attend the Dandelion Seed Conference this weekend, being organized by the Olympia Free Herbal Clinic, where I have secured work trade for the entire cost of participation. Seed saving will not be a topic in those workshops. But I will find so much inspiration there from established herbalists regarding healing and community building, I cannot think of a better way to spend a weekend for learning.