Re-wild yourself Part I: list of wild edibles

As I read a little bit of Michael Pollan's book "In defense of food", his overall health advice was to eat the foods that grow wild around us in our own environment. His argument was that when we eat the foods around us that grow wild are those that help us adapt to the environment and prevent diseases. Pollan concludes from researching cultures that it's important to follow cultural practices in consuming food rather than food science. Additionally, the soil and plant in the wild is cleaner than that grown in the big-Ag industry with all of its spray chemicals. Because the soil in the woods has more nutrients for years of composting leaf matter and other natural fertilizing, the edible foods are more nutritious, and have a diverse range of nutrients whereas the typical store-bought food is the same mix of ingredients of wheat and sugar components in a very strict ratio with no nutrition left after processing. Although it does not have quite the vegan or ethical message as far as what I usually highlight on this blog, I do see merit in his argument. I highly recommend reading this book, so request a copy from your local library.

In considering this from Pollan's argument, I find that I also strive to eat this way considering I do a lot of foraging behind my house. My Family and people around Kentucky, especially where I live, hunt for food like deer, fish, squirrel, turkey, and so that's their way of eating life that is around them in their environment.
Because I eat vegan, the wild foods I have eaten are fruits, nuts, greens/herbs, and mushrooms. Apparently there is a App on iTunes for Vegan recipes of wild edibles here: The Wild Vegan.

In past posts on wild edibles, I have shown you that I forage for mushrooms in the woods, as well as berries and paw paw fruits. Typically the kinds of mushrooms that grow behind my house are Chanterelle mushrooms and Chicken of the Woods, in the pictures below.

chanterelles foraged in kentucky woods

chanterelle & chicken of the woods mushrooms forage
Foraging Chanterelle & Chicken of the woods mushrooms in July

For more pictures of the mushroom foraging in the past years, go to the links provided at the end of this post.

Another mushroom found in Kentucky is Morels. When I was a kid, my Dad and I foraged for these and later he fried them and ate them with ketchup. This how I ate them growing up. I haven't had Morels in a long time because they grow early in the season, and I haven't come across a patch of Morels around my house. Because Chanterelles and Chicken of the woods grow behind my house, those are what I forage the most. I eat these types of mushrooms by tearing them into strips and frying them with a little oil, salt and pepper, served over rice or noodles.

michpics.wordpress.com

Other wild edibles of Kentucky, and perhaps around you too, are Paw paw fruit trees. Last fall I found one paw paw growing among a young, new patch of Paw paws behind my house. The paw paw fruit never grew to a proper size to eat, but when it was so ripe it turned brown and black, I ate a piece and found it to be very tasty, like caramel or something.

pinstopin.com

Of course other wild edible fruits in the woods are berries. They are very easy to identify unlike mushrooms, but some berries can be questionable, however, I have found that I can trust the look of wild black berries and wild raspberries in the woods. Because there is a lot of land behind my house that I explore, I always find blackberries and raspberries to forage and eat. One year I foraged so many berries that I was able to make 10 half pints of jam. Another berry I love and forage around my house is dewberries. They look like blackberries, except they grow on a small vine that crawls across the ground. Typically they are larger than a blackberry.

autumn olive berry pinterest.com

Another berry I like to forage for is huckleberry. It looks like similar to a blueberry plant but the berries are darker and tiny. Of course, the huckleberries around you may be different, considering I'm listing wild edibles I eat in Kentucky.
Many people have heard of this fruit because of Huckleberry Finn, but many have not explored the woods to eat this berry. And it's certainly not a berry we find in the grocery store, much like other wild foods.

The berries listed are typically harvested around July and August. Whereas the Autumn Olive, which as the name implies, is harvested in the fall, around September. I have not tried the Autumn Olive, but realized I have many of these plants growing around my house.
Elderberry is easily identifiable, usually growing along the side of the road like Autumn Olive plants (from what I've noticed). Elderberry is bitter, and eating these may require a lot of sugar or some kind of processing.

elderberry showmeoz.wordpress.com

arcadianabe.blogspot.com

 Persimmons is another wild native fruit that all animals, including me, love to eat. The persimmons around here are very small compared to California and Asian persimmons that are large. I have noticed two different varieties of persimmons I have foraged where I live: one being a flavor like pumpkin pie (which is a similar flavor to the Hachiya and Fuyu persimmons); and the second being a flavor like orange icy pops.

foraged persimmons from kentucky

black raspberry forage in kentucky

blackberry and dewberry (right) forage

There are so many wild greens that are edible as well like ramps, dandelions, and chickweed. This young gentlemen, Sergei in the photo below, has a book on wild edibles titled "Wild Edibles" and apparently it's quite popular, so it seems to be a worthy purchase for those that want to take on this challenge of eating wild edibles. What he does with his wild edibles, I'm not quite sure, but I thought that he and his family were raw vegans, so I can imagine a lot of the greens are used for salads, smoothies, and juices. I would eat the greens all these ways including frying them.

idrinkyourwine.com

Of course nut trees are plentiful, typically around property lines, but some remain in the woods for the squirrels to eat. Some of the wild nut trees around here are hickory and beechnut. There are many others such as Walnuts and pecans that I harvest from on peoples' property lines.

Where I live, there is a lot of logging for nut trees, so the woods has become a place of destruction. I am afraid that some of these wild foods like Paw paws may become extinct the more logging that is done. Because of clear cutting, Paw paws and other trees may not survive the logging industry due to equipment/machinery completely killing any other tree that would not have been cut for the logging company. It seems nothing is safe in its path. We must demand an alternative to clear cutting woods and forests, and oil businesses that also clear cut, and shopping malls and other projects that devastate the landscape. We must demand a different path to protect ecosystems, wildlife, and protect wild native plants.

Other related posts are provided below to find more information and pictures of foraging wild edibles, including more pictures of BIG foraging hauls of Chanterelle and Chicken of the woods mushrooms:

Late July Garden harvests (Peaches ... 
Foraging Chanterelle & Chicken of the woods mushrooms in July
BIG Garden Harvest in late August ...
Heirloom Solar Flare & Gold Berries ... 
Chanterelle mushrooms from the woods!
Rain for weeks grows BIG mushrooms ...
Foraging for Wild Edibles (Fall & Winter)
Pawpaw flower & Fruit identification ...
Apple, Persimmon, & Nut Foraging in ...
10 remarkably useful plants you can find in the wild
List of Uncommon Cold Hardy Fruit ... 


Similar to what Michael Pollan was speaking about with diet, Markus Rothkranz, a health "guru", has created this short video I have posted below which discusses the healing properties of wild edibles further as Pollan had.

End deforestation and grow hemp

Botanical Explorers: The Fruitful Forest (Full Movie)

Botanical Explorers: The Fruitful Forest (Full Movie) from Hundredth Hominid Productions on Vimeo.
There are over 20,000 Species of Edible plants on the planet, but Humans use only about 20 Species to provide 90% for our food. So why do we Utilize so little when there is so much? Joseph Simcox, a passion driven Food Plant Ecologist has traveled to over 100 countries, finding, documenting & eating all the plants we don't use. From the deep jungles of Papua New Guinea To the vast deserts of Namibia Africa, he sheds light on the extraordinary wonders of the edible plant world. In this Film Joe meets up with his brother Patrick Simcox in Peru, along with there team, and ventures deep into the Amazon Jungle to document, eat, & shed light on a small fraction of some the most amazing things nature has to offer. Come along on the Adventure!
For more Info Visit: explorewithjoseph.com

Shot & Edited By: Anthony B. Rodriguez

Intro- 00:00
Room Of Rare Seeds- 02:34
Flight To The Amazon- 04:25
Iquitos Belen Market- 05:51
Meeting Our Jungle Guide- 14:36
Journey Down River- 16:09
Home in the jungle- 18:52
Off To Find Fruits- 21:35
Forest Destruction- 23:23
Deep Into The Jungle- 24:17
Where Are The Fruits?- 30:21
Eating Giant Grubs- 35:13
Medicinal Plants- 40:13
Village Visit- 48:11
Delicious Garcinia- 55:29
Whats The Overall Goal?- 58:52
Outro- 59:50
Credits- 01:02:12

"10 Incredible Plant Facts you didn't know" by Kevin Mathews

From EcoWatch: Transforming Green, Kevin Mathews writes on the "10 Incredible Plant Facts you didn't know":

"1. The earth has more than 80,000 species of edible plants.
If you’re ever in the mood to try something new, the good news is that there is certainly food you haven’t tasted yet still growing somewhere in the world. You’ll probably have some trouble finding it, however, because …

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

2. 90 percent of the foods humans eat come from just 30 plants.
Out of tens of thousands of plants we could eat, mankind chooses to consume only about 30 of them. It’s crazy to contemplate how limited our diets are compared to all of the different foods we could be eating. If you think the selection of which plants we eat has anything to do with their nutritional benefits, however, you’d be wrong …
3. Nutrition doesn’t factor into the crops we do mass produce.
The world’s largest farmers have pursued certain crops because they can grow a lot of them more quickly, easily and inexpensively to turn a better profit. As a result, most of the most healthful plants stay off of our dinner plates because they aren’t available at grocery stores. Still, sustenance isn’t the only thing humans rely on plants for …
4. 70,000 plant species are utilized for medicine.
As it turns out, humans are more diversified in the plants we use for medicine. Although a large portion of that figure applies to traditional medicine, modern medicine is not excepted from plant help. Half of the drugs prescribed in the U.S. have plant origins, many coming out of the rainforest, yet …
5. Only one percent of rainforest plants have been studied for medicinal potential.
Given how valuable plants can be medicinally, the rainforest houses a host of possible cures for ailments new and old. This untapped resource could still hold the key to medical breakthroughs. Of course, a lot of this potential could be lost considering …

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

6. 80 percent of the Earth’s original forests have been cleared or destroyed.
The same forests that dominated the land 8,000 years ago are all but gone. Approximately four-fifths of the forests are gone thanks to human intervention—just think of how many plant species may have been lost in that process. If you thought protections were in place, actually …
7. Just 10 percent of the world’s plant-rich areas are protected.
Of the most biodiverse areas on the planet, only 10 percent are officially “protected” to ensure the survival of a multitude of species—plant and animal alike. Worse still, many of the supposedly protected areas are done so nominally only, leaving plants threatened by external factors they should be safeguarded from. This is especially problematic because …
8. More than half of plant species are native to just one country.
Chances are, a plant you find in one part of the world is not currently growing anywhere else. As plant habitat is ruined, there’s little point in hoping that the killed plants could be found and harvested somewhere else in the future. For this reason …
9. 68 percent of plants are in danger of going extinct.
While scientists have only examined a fraction of the existing known plant species, of those that have been studied, 68 percent face extinction in the not too distant future. Since plants can’t just up and move as their habitat is being destroyed, they are even more vulnerable than endangered animals. It’s happening quickly, too, since …
10. Plant species are going extinct—about 5,000 times faster than they should.
Some will argue that species would go extinct even without human interference. While that’s certainly true, it’s the rate that plants are dying off that raises alarm. Thanks to climate change, deforestation and other human-influence factors, experts believe that species are going extinct somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times faster than they would naturally".

COB BUILDING (Straw, clay, & Sand for building DREAM EARTH HOME)

Are you interested in a home made of materials from under your feet? Do you want a house that costs less than a car or a computer? Would you rather have a home sculpted from clean, Earth materials than a home made of toxic, commercial products? Of course you do!

Below I have posted some of my favorite videos from Youtube that talk about how to make INEXPENSIVE DREAM HOMES made of the cleanest materials (straw, clay, and sand.) These videos are to urge you to want to build a home of natural materials (rather than toxic plastic walls, fiberglass insulation, and other flammable products.) Homes made of clay (blended with straw/sand) are fire-resistant, bug-proof, earthquake and tornado-safe; and can be mended and shaped easily if it needs restructured. Clay is also abundant and common in most regions.