Many of us have a little sprig of mistletoe hanging in our doorways this time of year, and perhaps have shared or stolen a kiss beneath this plant. It's a powerful little plant indeed to draw people together in this way. I have also heard that it is a good plant to have in your home for good fortune this time of year and for keeping away negative energy. If you live near oak trees, you ...
Wildcrafting
She’s Gone Nuts!
When I moved to Oregon, one of the first things I noticed were all the nuts...hazelnuts that is. They're everywhere! While I had never really paid them any mind before, I soon realized what a tasty local food resource was available here. After all those hazelnuts fall to the ground in the hazelnut orchards, the farmers come through with their tractors and scoop up as much as they can for ...
Acorn Harvest
One thing I love about this time of year is that food just falls from the sky...so much, in fact, that you have to be careful it doesn't hit you on the head! All around in parks, along neighborhood streets, and at schools and college campuses, the acorns are ripe and ready for harvesting. Although people have been eating acorns for centuries, somehow they now seem to be an un-used food resource. ...
Finding the Fungus Among Us
I love the Pacific Northwest, but let's face it, it's a rainy place. The winters are very long and gray, and I have heard it said many times that most Oregonians are sorely lacking in vitamin D. Without much sunlight in the winter months, we have to look elsewhere for this important nutrient. Fortunately, when it starts to rain in the fall, an abundant source of vitamin D appears all over our ...
Plants of the Oregon High Desert
On our trip to the Owyhee high desert in southeastern Oregon, I came across some really beautiful plants flowering into October. Many I recognized from my rangeland plant I.D. classes in college, and many were mysterious and new. Here are just a few I caught in photographs... Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) Gray rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus ...
Respect Your Elders
Elderberries deserve some respect. When you need to ward off a cold, or give your immune system some overall support, they will always come through. It's also nice to know that such a beneficial medicine is available right here in the woods around us. Freeze them, dry them, make a tincture, make a syrup or infused honey, and you have stored away a cure for the common cold and flu for the winter ...
Today’s Gleanings
I'm hearing from all around what a busy fall it is, and I can tell you, I know all about it. I have stepped into a whole new level of bustling activity in the past weeks. The garden patches need watering, picking and preserving. The wild foods beckon to be plucked off bush, vine and tree. There is much work to help with in my children's amazing third grade class at our Waldorf school. I'm doing a ...
Fall Foraging Adventures
Everywhere you look right now, there is an abundance of food. Along country roadsides, in overgrown neighborhood alleys, in forgotten corners of back yards, fruit is hanging ripe for the picking. The last few weeks have been busy ones for me, with all the usual foraging that I do this time of year, the harvest that needs gathering on my own land, and all the preserving that ensues. With the ...
There’s Huckleberries in Them Thar Hills!
For the last seven years, our family has travelled to Mt. Adams to pick huckleberries. We make the drive up the Columbia River Gorge, cross the river into Washington, and head up through the little town of Trout Lake to the dry forests of the eastern Cascade Mountains. This has become a popular area to pick over the years, and at first sight of all the cars pulled off along the main forest service ...
Spring Arrives at Dorris Ranch: An Afternoon Walk in Photographs
Every spring, I like to go on walks at Dorris Ranch, my favorite park and living history farm. One clear March day I went with my children and our friends after school to gather nettles. We walked along the gravel roads winding through the filbert orchards and stopped at an old tractor for the kids to play while we picked at the base of an old tree. As I was picking the nettles, I kept ...