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thanks to my sis in law for letting me know it was wrong

A Day of Spring Foraging

OK, I decide to go foraging and what does the weather do? Decide to be about 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the forecast I looked at the previous evening said it would be {Note to self, check weather BEFORE leaving the house in the am !!} Luckily, I did layer somewhat, but did not have waterproof boots on, duh? It had rained 1/2 inch where we were going !! So I had wet, cold feet all day, even though my friend withstood me keep putting the floor heater on high!! Thank you, my dear. But I was glad to get home, strip off the wet shoes, socks and jeans and put on dry clothing, thank you very much !!

But it was a wonderful day. We drove about an hour east and south of our homes in Tulsa, and found old houses to scrounge around (brought home a chicken feeder, some screens for drying on and a few other things), and some beautiful areas, that were new to us. We have been foraging together for the last 3 years, and we go back to places that have been successful, and keep looking for new places. Oh, don't get me wrong, we do some foraging within 20 miles of the town (keeping clear of those plants that we feel are contaminated with pollution, industry, etc); but today was our first look for the elusive Morel mushrooms. I foraged them as a kid in Idaho, and have ate some that others had found in OK, but had never really hunted myself.

We started the day, by heading up to where we had found the chanterelles last year, to see what was going on there. There had been a little clearing of the land, but we did not see anything that would make us think there would not be chanterelles popping up in June !

From there we went back to the old houses before mentioned.

This is where J stepped out of the truck, walked a few feet and at the foot of a tree was a beautiful, yellow morel, boy were we excited, but did not find any more. From reading all the information and the posts from other 'shroom hunters, the middle of next week, after the rain and some warmer temps, should be prime morel season.

It was fun to look around and even more fun to hear J scream when 1)a wild cat and she almost collided and 2) a turkey vulture came flapping out of the house she was checking out !

There was some beautiful old metal fencing around the house, with scalloped edges on top that I would have loved to have, but the saplings and weeds and all, was grown into the fence, so getting it out would have been a major thing.

Except for a few plantain leaves we had not really foraged anything yet, we were beginning to wonder if it was just still too cold .

But we wondered down another road we had not previously traveled and low and behold, we found spring time splendor and heaven !! How would I dare call it heaven? Numerous, clear, cold running streams, unfenced, or otherwise blocked land and plants !! OH my !!

We found wild ginger !!! Lots of wild ginger ! And watercress, beautiful, spicy, yummy !!

that is a dogwood bloom in front of the watercress

Then we found some flowering plants that we dug a few of, to bring home to identify.

We had what we thought was flax, but brought it home and id'ed it as a blue eyed grass, which is actually an iris; beautiful violet spiderwort; yellow blossomed winter crest, a probable st john's wort, but I will not know for sure, unless it will bloom for me and another small plant with white to violet flowers and a leaf that looks like a little paw print (3 lobes, rounded)

We will be going back for more ginger and watercress. And now is the perfect time to talk about ethical wild foraging or wildcrafting.

First, where you go: must be open land, do not cross fences without permission, and you cannot usually forage in city or national parks without permission, in fact you can go to jail for digging some plants or removing other things like mushrooms, because it upsets the habitat.

2) never harvest within 100 feet of a busy road. On dirt roads, the biggest problem you will run into, is how dirty anything within those feet will be.

3) never harvest in a known contaminated place, ok this may take some research. You do not want to harvest downstream of a plant that is spewing nasties into the land or water. And believe me, if they are producing something nasty (even animal type butchering places) then you will have contaminates in the area

4) this is a really important, and biggy for all us to be aware of. YOU NEVER HARVEST everything in one area !!! This means there will be no reproduction for the next year, and that someone else may not get to enjoy what you did. Also, be thankful for what you have found and be respectful of the area. Do not leave your trash, or campfires or even more footsteps than is necessary. You might even bring a gift to that piece of land, cornmeal (food) is considered a gift of life and respect. But as long as you are respectful and thankful, the land will bless you and others.

5) research and know what plants are protected and/or endangered. Never harvest them !

There were many other plants in this area that we could not identify because of size and non blooming, it will be so much fun to watch as the year goes by, to see what is actually there.

What a week !!

Last Friday around 7 pm, my oldest daughter called and told me how sick she was, 100 temp and head throbbing. She, along with her three young children, live about 2 hours from us, in Missouri. She was wanting mommy, and since I couldn't just run over, I told her all the things to do to hopefully get her to feeling better. She says she is out of my elderberry syrup, so this is one thing we will have to work around. I also told her, that if she needed me, I would drive down on Sat (and avoiding telling her that little sister had prom Sat, knowing this would mean oldest would say she did not need mom !) Anyway, oldest boyfriend took care of her Friday night and escorted to help with T ball practice on Sat morning. She called to say her ex had the 2 oldest girls, so she was going to take a nap. I sighed a simple thank you prayer and continued my day.

Oh what was my day? I was handing out plants to friends and students that had requested them, then assisting my 15 yr old to dress for homeschool prom. This was wild and hectic, especially during the last hour, because of her concerns that everything had to be just right ! Normal behavior, I think?? We then delivered her first to dinner, then picked her up and took her to the 2nd location for the dance, ah the life of parent of a non driving teen!!

So, during the back and forth with daughters, I managed dinner and a quiet evening at home with hubby.

Sunday morning I call oldest to check on her, and she is still feeling terrible, and needing some help. So we pack up (15 yr old and I, hubby must work next day) and head to MO .

We spent the next 2 1/2 days taking care of oldest daughter and kids. All 3 kids had throat and ear infections, the oldest, probably a sinus infection. I handed out lots of elderberry flu meds, tylenol and hugs !!

We came home on Tuesday evening, and I spent a couple of days recovering and playing in the garden.

Pics, top to bottom

Brooklyn, 6; Reannon 4; Nathan 2; Britt 15 (self portrait)

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