My dear daughter-in-law, Jenny, and I made some new friends today.  We joined Karen Sherwood of Earthwalk Northwest for one of a series of day classes in which we learn how to identify wild plants and their many virtues:  food, medicine, tools. In the classroom, Karen explained the ethical principles and wild food foraging guidelines. She encouraged us to bring wild plants into our lives – make new friends by learning about one plant every week and incorporating wild food on to our plates as often as possible.

Karen’s words also expressed a sense of appreciation and even reverence about using and also safeguarding the wild we have left.  In her article, Returning the Gift, scientist, writer, professor Robin Wall Kimmerer writes:

We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees, the tree that became this page, a bag of rice and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom.

Karen affirmed appreciation, gratitude and wonder at every stop along the trail. We started in her backyard which is home to many wild plants including stinging nettle.  Urtica dioica is also sometimes referred to as Indian spinach – a superfood high in chlorophyll, vitamins, minerals and protein.  Fresh or dried leaves can be used as a tonic.  Dried leaves can be ground and added to any dish.   We savored one of Karen’s specialties is a stinging nettle “chip” made by either baking or dehydrating raw leaves coated with a delicious nut oil.  As medicine the plant has been used for arthritis, asthma and allergies.

Steps away from a plant that stings is a plant that can soothe skin irritation by neutralizing the formic acid with its alkaline secretions:  broad-leaved dock plant.  Find the unfurled inner leaves of Rumex obtusifolius and you’ll feel a goopy serum you can apply to your nettle rash. Or you can apply crushed leaves as a poultice.  Sauté the new leaves for a nutritional boost of vitamins C, A, protein and iron. Broad leaf and curly dock, Rumex crispus, leaves can be eaten like spinach.  As the plant matures, you can winnow curly dock seeds and grind them to make baking flour.  As medicine curly dock root has been used to tonify the gallbladder and boost bile production.

Karen pointed out many plants that are often overlooked as “commoners” like  dandelion, Taraxacum officinale.  These edible weeds are  high in potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, vitamins A, B and C.  (They are welcome neighbors growing in the grass around my house!)  Karen recommended making simple teas from the early buds of Western hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla and Douglas fir Pseudotsuga menziesii.  The citrus tasting teas are infused with vitamin C.  They have also been used to combat scurvy, colds, coughs and fatigue.  Appreciating what we take for granted enriches our lives immeasurably.

I think we appreciate when we slow down and train our senses to abide with the place we find ourselves.  Zen poet Jane Hirshfield writes:

The danger of familiarity is that it’s comfortable. And when something becomes familiar it stops being remarkable. Without the work of mindfulness, the little noticings go first and quietly accumulate in the corner of lost things, that first spring crocus, no, go even closer — the way the color divides and splays on the petals.

Karen has a remarkable ability to shine light on these lost things.  She explained dandelion is a cleansing plant.  Its leaves act like bitters to stimulate digestion. They are rich in vitamins and minerals, calcium, iron and potassium among others.  The tea made of roasted roots supports liver function.  The roasting process breaks down inulin and creates fructose.  Karen’s powdered the roasted roots to make a “coffee” ice cream.   Dandelion was highly valued by native people.  The Apache travelled two days to dandelion patches.

As the day progressed I sensed nature’s abundance.  Karen guided us along trails pointing out amazing plants every ten yards – we were surrounded!  She pointed out Indian plum, Oemleria cerasiformis, one of the first plants to flower in the early Spring now beginning to fruit.  The pithy plums – also called osoberries can be eaten fresh, cooked, or dried.  Twigs and bark for various medicinal uses.

We built our Salmonberry-Wood Sorrel Salad on a bed of wild violets.  We assembled side dishes:

Peeled salmonberry shoots and berries, roasted cattail shoots with parmesan and dandelion pesto.  Karen served us a beautiful cream of leek and violet soup and last, but not least, duck medallions with sautéed spruce tips: